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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28303779">Copy Cat</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Myst_Marshall/pseuds/Myst_Marshall'>Myst_Marshall</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Naruto</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Crack, Gen, Humor, Team Dynamics, Time Travel</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 14:42:32</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>38,019</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28303779</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Myst_Marshall/pseuds/Myst_Marshall</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>They say imitation is the highest form of compliment, but Kakashi thinks that Sasuke may be adopting his Copy Ninja moniker a little too seriously. When Sasuke starts showing up three hours late, appearing in places he shouldn’t be, and saying things he shouldn’t know, Kakashi wonders if he finally cracked.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>63</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>218</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaughingWombat/gifts">LaughingWombat</a>.</li>



    </ul></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Kakashi had to admit, he was a bit intrigued by this crew. When the Hokage shoved yet another folder into Kakashi's hands that morning, in his mind, he had already written off his new set of students as another failure. Already with two failing teams to his name, Kakashi learned that he shouldn't have any expectations.</p>
<p>Having no expectations meant no disappointment. He learned that the hard way.</p>
<p>Even though he had written off his new team and despite his lazy appearance, Kakashi still took his duties seriously. Perhaps it was a byproduct of his stickler-for-rules persona that he embodied throughout his childhood, but Kakashi didn't shirk his duties after he was assigned to them. And so Kakashi found himself settling into his favorite tree - the one above the bench near the front gates - and thumbing through the Academy files.</p>
<p>His first team was hardly memorable. They were three boys who had no noteworthy clan name to back them, which was fine. Kakashi had seen living proof that a nobody could become one of the strongest jonins in the village (Gai), not that Kakashi would ever admit that out loud. Yet those three boys had egos the size of one of the heads on the Hokage monument, but had no skills to back up said ego.</p>
<p>They'd been written off as a number, a statistic for Kakashi Hatake's team falling rate.</p>
<p>The second team stood out a little more than the first; after all, it was rare to have triplets and then even rarer to have triplets placed on the same team. When he first received the folder from Lord Third, Kakashi instantly knew that combination was a horrible idea. Everyone would argue that it wasn't; they were familiar with each other's jutsus, they had trust, they had camaraderie. Too bad they had to go and prove Kakashi right.</p>
<p>And his third team? Well, Kakashi would be a complete liar if he said that he wasn't intrigued by them. Plastered at the very top of the stack was Sasuke Uchiha's profile. The Last Uchiha. The Academy standout for their graduating class. A quick glance over at his statistics, Kakashi was hardly surprised that he scored perfect marks in everything.</p>
<p><em>Just like him, </em>Kakashi mused. He could understand the choice; the two of them were more similar than Kakashi cared to admit. Class prodigy. Insane potential. Sharingan wielders. Traumatic childhood history. Lightning and fire affinity. They were the picture perfect student and teacher pairing.</p>
<p>The profile was Naruto Uzumaki's. When his eyes glazed over his Academy picture, Kakashi's breath hitched for a brief moment. Seeing that particular shade of blue eyes brought back an onslaught of unwanted memories. With practiced ease, Kakashi shut those memories out, shoved those lingering feelings to the very back of his mind.</p>
<p>Being Sensei's son didn't mean Kakashi would go easy on him. But he had to admit, putting the last ranked student with the top scorer had been an interesting choice. Especially since it reminded him so much of his own team.</p>
<p>The final student sealed the deal. A kunoichi with immense intellectual prowess but lacked physical strength. She was noted for possessing refined chakra control although Sakura had never taken advantage of that attribute to hone her skills in something. Her description sounded very much like his former teammate.</p>
<p>Kakashi had to face it: this team was essentially the second version of Team Minato and he was assigned to play Minato's role this time around.</p>
<p>Only this time, Kakashi wasn't going to make the same mistake that his sensei did.</p>
<p>Only when the sun began to set, was Kakashi conscious that he was almost three hours late to meet his team. Inevitably, he was going to get a lecture from Iruka and the Sandaime tomorrow, but he already had an explanation ready.</p>
<p>It was a test of patience, Kakashi would say.</p>
<p>Kakashi smirked under his mask, amused by the prospect that Lord Third would just shake his head as if to say "what will I do with you" at his explanation, while Iruka would rant and rant and rant about how he needed to be more responsible, be a good role model for his students.</p>
<p>Then Kakashi would have to bite his tongue so he didn't set off the man on another tirade by revealing that he never intended to pass those kids in the first place. Maybe Kakashi was out to get them...but it wasn't his fault that Academy kids these days were so incompetent, so self-absorbed.</p>
<p>Kami, he was starting to sound like an old man.</p>
<p>Swinging his legs off of the branch, Kakashi hopped out of the tree. Tucking the folder in the large pocket inside his flak jacket, Kakashi ambled his way to the Academy. If he was already three hours late, what would another fifteen minutes do?</p>
<p>The blackboard eraser was jammed in the crack of the sliding door. A childish trick, but if that trick was concocted by the three of them, then Kakashi was willing to live with chalk dust in his hair for a few hours to give them the satisfaction of seeing their efforts of teamwork come into fruition.</p>
<p>Hand on the door, Kakashi slid it open, taking one step into the doorway while he mentally counted down the seconds until the eraser fell onto his head.</p>
<p>Three...two...one. The object hit his head lightly, sending a spray of chalk dust everywhere. Tipping his head forward, Kakashi let the eraser slide down from his head and clatter against the floorboards.</p>
<p>The boisterous laughter caught his attention. In between his laughter, Naruto muttered barely comprehensible things like "he fell for it" or "stupid sensei" or "that's what he gets for being late."</p>
<p>To his left, Sakura had put up a fake innocent and apologetic expression. Fake because he could practically hear her laughing at his expense on the inside. Only the words that came out of her mouth didn't reflect her true feelings; instead, Sakura pinned the blame entirely on Naruto, citing that she tried to stop him.</p>
<p>She hadn't. Her body language betrayed her.</p>
<p>Sasuke was still sitting in the front row. Elbows propped up on the desk, his hands were clasped together, blocking the majority of his face. For a brief second, Kakashi could have sworn he spotted a hint of a smirk and a subtle eye roll.</p>
<p>They were certainly an interesting crew.</p>
<p>After instructing them to meet him on the rooftops, Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke. He perched on the railing, fingers itching to reach for Icha Icha while he waited for his students to clamber up the stairs.</p>
<p>The three of them filed in front of him, sitting down on the concrete slab in front of him.</p>
<p>Kakashi began by asking for an introduction, even though he knew everything that he needed to know from the Academy files. Still, it would be interesting to hear other things, things that would make them a person, rather than just another sheet of paper jammed among the stack of graduates.</p>
<p>"Well, tell me your likes, dislikes, hobbies, and dreams."</p>
<p>Unsurprisingly, Sakura was the one to fire back with a request for him to go first so that they had an example to work off of. And Kakashi did, giving them them vague responses, relishing the annoyance written on the kids' faces when they realized they had learned nothing but his name.</p>
<p>It was alright. They weren't here to stay. They didn't need to know anything else about him.</p>
<p>Naruto went first. Nothing out of the ordinary, except that he wanted to become Hokage. It wasn't entirely a surprise; after all, he had the blood of two people who wanted to become Hokage running through him, but it was interesting to know.</p>
<p>He had his father's looks but everything about his personality screamed Kushina.</p>
<p>Sakura went next and if Kakashi was quite honest, her introduction was an incomprehensible mess of squeals. This was something that the Academy files hadn't told him; he hadn't anticipated a fangirl to be placed on his team. And for someone as sharp as she was, he was appalled that Sakura didn't know the meaning of subtlety.</p>
<p>Kakashi mentally sighed. This wouldn't do.</p>
<p>Sasuke was the last to go.</p>
<p>"I like to train and learn new jutsus. I dislike people who abandon their comrades." At this part, Kakashi blinked in surprise, wondering if he was hallucinating or not. "My hobbies are to read -" Here, Sasuke paused to clear his throat, veering away from what he was originally going to say. "Books. My dream is to become strong enough to protect my friends."</p>
<p>What the hell? In his mind, Kakashi had painted Sasuke as an aloof prodigy. Someone who felt that comrades would only serve as a hindrance since he was leagues ahead of them. Someone who was arrogant enough to think that they could accomplish everything on their own. Basically, someone who acted just like he did as a child.</p>
<p>Sasuke had just dispelled that notion and now Kakashi was left with a blank canvas, wondering how the kid turned out so differently from what he anticipated.</p>
<p>Kakashi smiled under his mask. Maybe there was hope for this team.</p>
<p>Intriguing, indeed.</p><hr/>
<p>Sakura was the first to arrive at the training grounds. In part, it was because it had been drilled into her since the first day of the Academy that a shinobi should always be punctual - a rule which their sensei didn't seem to care for. And combined with the fact that he had fallen for the eraser trick made her think that this training exercise would be a piece of cake. It was clear that he wasn't all that after all, but it sucked that they were stuck with the worst sensei.</p>
<p>The second reason, well, Sakura knew that Sasuke would be the second to arrive and then they could spend quality time alone…</p>
<p>Only Sakura was entirely shocked to see that Naruto was the second to arrive. His entire demeanor suggested that he was still half asleep, even letting out a loud yawn while he collapsed onto the ground next to her.</p>
<p>"Wake me up when Sensei gets here, alright Sakura chan?"</p>
<p>Sakura had been stunned into silence that she couldn't do anything but nod. Naruto accepted her answer and promptly fell back asleep.</p>
<p>Two minutes until their meeting time. By Sasuke's standards, he would be considered late. An unsettling feeling appeared in the pit of her stomach. Sakura paced the vicinity as the minutes ticked by, anxiety building up inside her. All sorts of thoughts raced through her mind, the loudest being the urge to go and check up on Sasuke. Yet her sense of duty rooted her here.</p>
<p>What if Sensei showed up while she left to go find Sasuke? Her eyes flickered to her sleeping teammate; she couldn't count on Naruto to properly pass the message along. He looked so deep asleep that Sakura felt he wouldn't even wake up even if she yelled at him.</p>
<p>Sakura plopped down on the grass, crossing her legs. Closing her eyes, Sakura began to meditate, an act that always helped to calm her nerves. Only, that lasted for all of five minutes before Sakura picked herself off of the ground and started pacing again.</p>
<p>The cycle continued. She would pace around, then try to meditate, only to fail. It was practically impossible as her mind went into overdrive thinking of all the possibilities of why Sasuke was late. Most of them were grim.</p>
<p>By the time Sakura finally worked up the nerve to leave to check up on Sasuke - after all, like Sasuke said, comrades were important so certainly ditching a training exercise was excusable - Sasuke strolled into view. Sakura ran up to him, checking him all over for any injuries.</p>
<p>There were none.</p>
<p>"Sasuke, you're finally here!" Sakura greeted, maybe a little too loudly judging from the way Sasuke leaned away from her.</p>
<p>"Uh, yeah," came Sasuke's uncomfortable response. "Is Sensei here yet?"</p>
<p>That question set Sakura off into a rant about how their sensei was late again. Sakura had gotten so heated during the rant that the volume of her voice woke up Naruto, who sat up, still looking slightly disoriented.</p>
<p>"Where have you been?" Sakura finished with. Before Sasuke got a chance to answer her question, Kakashi appeared in a puff of smoke.</p>
<p>"Yo," he greeted, the skin around his visible eye crinkling with amusement. "Sorry, I'm late, but I-"</p>
<p>"Got lost on the path of life," both Kakashi and Sasuke finished in unison. Kakashi's lone eye slid over to examine the dark hair boy, eyebrow raised as if to question how Sasuke knew exactly what he was going to say.</p>
<p>Sakura voiced his question aloud for him.</p>
<p>It was all wrong. Once the question left her mouth, she watched as the blood drained from Sasuke's complexion. His tongue darted out to lick his dry lips, a sign that he was nervous. Sasuke wasn't supposed to be nervous. He was cool and confident.</p>
<p>Was this Sasuke the one she even knew?</p>
<p>Sasuke's left eye twitched abnormally, almost like it was a natural reflex for the eye to be closed and he was fighting to keep it open. His lips were pressed in a straight line, but the strain of his cheek muscles indicated that he was fighting a smile?</p>
<p>Sakura was convinced that she was dreaming. Never in the years that she had known him had she ever seen him smiling.</p>
<p>"Seemed like the kind of shitty excuse he would say," Sasuke finally said, weakly. While Naruto accepted his answer, bouncing on the balls of his feet from the pent up energy and eagerness to start the training exercise, his answer raised red flags for Sakura.</p>
<p>How would he know what kind of excuse Sensei would give if he never heard it before? Yesterday was supposedly the first time they met and Sensei hadn't given an excuse for his tardiness then. The first thought that flitted through her mind was that yesterday's meeting wasn't their first encounter with each other, but if that was the case, then why was Sensei surprised that Sasuke could finish his excuse?</p>
<p>Sensei didn't linger on Sasuke's excuse; instead, he directed the spotlight off of him and onto the training exercise at hand, which raised her suspicions even more. Was Sensei covering up for him? Covering up the fact that they already knew each other in favor of appearing unbiased?</p>
<p>Sakura didn't have time to ponder on the question any further as the training exercise began, after Naruto stupidly attacked Sensei before the start signal. Like she learned in the Academy, the first thing she did was conceal herself, in a set of bushes while suppressing her chakra signature. She was pleased to note that Sasuke was nowhere in sight either; despite his strangeness, he seemed to still have retained his senses.</p>
<p>As for Naruto, Sakura was at a complete loss for words as she watched her teammate attacking Sensei head on. And Sensei...was reading a book? While fighting Naruto?</p>
<p>She was in complete disbelief. Not only did Sensei have a chronic late problem, but to top off with a blase and irresponsible attitude, she wondered if the jonin exams had been rigged. How did someone like him even become a jonin? Although Sakura did suppose that Sensei was holding out quite well despite reading a book, being able to win against Naruto didn't really mean much.</p>
<p>When the slew of Naruto clones let out a screech of indignation after falling into Sensei's trick, a snicker floated to her ears. Her head jerked to her right, spotting Sasuke squatting on one of the branches. Even from this distance, Sakura could make out the smile on his face, partly obscured by his hand as he desperately tried to hold in his laughter.</p>
<p>Even when Sensei suddenly appeared behind Naruto, hands forming a tiger seal - which Sakura recognized to be dangerous and realized this could end very, very badly - Sasuke was still greatly amused. So amused to the point where a few chuckles slipped his mouth, but then he tried to suppress it, which resulted in a series of uncontrollable hiccups.</p>
<p>Thankfully, the jutsu hadn't been dangerous. Naruto flew through the air, landing in the nearby river. The next time she turned her head, both Sasuke and Sensei were gone.</p>
<p>And then she was alone. Sakura realized that staying here meant that she was a sitting duck, and that she should be doing something productive. Academy taught her to rig traps, but those required time and she wasn't sure how much time she had. Assuming that Sasuke was currently engaged with Sensei right now, he would buy her a decent amount of time, but who was to say that he wouldn't send a clone to deal with her?</p>
<p>Her eyes flickered over to the river, where Naruto's head had just emerged out of the water. What did Sasuke say on the first day...that he hated people who abandoned their comrades?</p>
<p>Making up her mind, Sakura left her hiding spot in favor of reaching the riverbank just in time to give Naruto a helping hand to the shore. Naruto's blinding smile sent a warm feeling to her chest, as she acknowledged his gratitude. Even if he was the dead last in the Academy, at least there were two of them.</p>
<p>His presence had given her the confidence boost that she needed.</p>
<p>"Come on! Let's go find Kakashi sensei!"</p>
<p>From the trees, Kakashi smiled.</p><hr/>
<p>Like Kakashi thought, this crew was quite intriguing. Although Naruto was quite unorthodox in his methods, Kakashi had to admit that he was surprised to see that Naruto could form shadow clones at his age. Performing a forbidden jutsu at such an age was practically unheard of it, not to mention the sheer volume of them. Any normal shinobi would pass out from chakra exhaustion, himself included, but Kakashi supposed that having an immense chakra amount was helpful. Even if it came at the cost of having horrible chakra control.</p>
<p>His next target had been Sakura, but when he saw her contemplating on her next move, Kakashi was curious to see what she would do. Would she chase after Sasuke? Would she try to do something to defend herself? When she had chosen to go help Naruto, despite leaving her guard completely down during the process, Kakashi couldn't help but feel proud. Even if her basics were not quite up to par, at least she possessed the right mindset to be a shinobi.</p>
<p>It might have helped her idol had practically declared that comrades were important. Speaking of the devil…</p>
<p>Sasuke found him before Kakashi found him. They were situated on opposite sides of the clearing. Sasuke sized him up, while Kakashi lazily examined him. He may have been a prodigy, but Kakashi knew that he was still no match for a jonin like him. Although, it was unfortunate that he would have to take him more seriously than Naruto; he didn't think he could get away with reading Icha Icha while fighting Sasuke.</p>
<p>Kakashi tucked the book into his weapons pouch and waited for Sasuke to make his first move. He didn't have to wait long, a large fireball came hurtling in his direction. His fingers flew through the signs, easily countering with a water jutsu of his own. The two elements clashed, mist obscuring the entire clearing. He took the opportunity to slip underground, pinpointing Sasuke's relative location. Hand burrowing out from the ground, he expected for his fingers to wrap around his ankle, only to find that he grasped air.</p>
<p>How in the hell…?</p>
<p>Kakashi emerged from his underground position to find Sasuke was smirking at him, like he knew he was underground all along. After two seconds, the shock subsided and a neutral expression overtook his features once more. He readied himself for the next attack.</p>
<p>It never came. Instead, Sasuke ran from the clearing. Kakashi followed him, noting that unlike Sakura, his guard was completely up. Even if Kakashi had chosen to ambush him on his way to his destination, wherever that was, Sasuke would have easily deflected it. So Kakashi resigned himself to observing Sasuke's next move.</p>
<p>His next destination was the clearing, the place where they started. Naruto's chopsticks froze midair as he registered Sasuke's presence, followed by Kakashi's into the clearing. Sakura was next to him, subtly pushing the bento box behind her.</p>
<p>Sasuke crossed his arms over his chest. "You decide to eat instead of giving me a helping hand?"</p>
<p>Naruto sputtered. Sakura's mouth opened, excuses ready to spill from her lips when the shrill ring of the alarm permeated through the air. While Naruto and Sakura's jaw dropped - they officially failed the test - Sasuke seemed completely unfazed as he plopped down next to them, snatching the bento box from behind Sakura's back.</p>
<p>"You all failed." Kakashi didn't mean it; he just wanted to see how they would react. Naruto was indignant. Sakura was horrified. Sasuke remained completely nonchalant, continuing to chew on the rice ball.</p>
<p>How interesting.</p>
<p>Naruto filled the silence, babbling on and on about how he couldn't go back to the Academy. In the beginning, Sakura had chosen to remain quiet, but eventually joined in on Naruto's protests. Sasuke had chosen to remain quiet, taking the opportunity to polish off the contents of the bento. Only when their chorus of protests died down did Sasuke speak for the first time.</p>
<p>"We passed, right?" Sasuke's dark eyes bored into him, almost as if he was daring him to say no. Kakashi didn't take the bait.</p>
<p>"What makes you say that?"</p>
<p>Sasuke merely shrugged. "You saw our teamwork."</p>
<p>Kakashi narrowed his eyes. Looks like the kid had done his research, but the question was how? What were the odds that Sasuke had run into one of the two teams that failed? Even if he did, Sasuke was always the quiet, brooding type in the Academy, or so he heard, so he wouldn't be the type to make small talk with them.</p>
<p>Or maybe it was a scheme all along. He had done his research, found out that the thing that Kakashi valued the most was teamwork, manipulated his answers to give off the impression that he cared about his teammates just so Kakashi would pass him. And then he would be one step closer to achieving his goal, which Kakashi wagered was to extract revenge against his older brother.</p>
<p>Maybe they had something else in common; Sasuke was as cunning as he was when he was younger. Just like Kakashi manipulated his team into working together during his own bell test, all Sasuke had to do was plant the idea in Sakura's head – not that it was hard since Sakura was heads over heels in love with him anyways – and say the words that Kakashi wanted to hear. Naruto wouldn't be a problem; he craved attention too much to thwart Sasuke's plans.</p>
<p>It was a brilliant plan. If Kakashi was anyone else, if he hadn't done the exact same thing before, Kakashi would have fallen for it. Too bad Sasuke had met his match.</p>
<p>Kakashi considered sending them back to the Academy, but it would be quite a pity. It had been so long since a team had even come close to meeting his standards and he could see that Naruto and Sakura had to form a sense of friendship. It would be quite a pity if he undid all that – undoubtedly, next time they would be placed on different teams when they graduated again – just because of Sasuke.</p>
<p>Maybe he would give them a second chance to prove themselves. A second chance to see if Sasuke genuinely cared about his comrades or if it was all a farce.</p>
<p>"Your performance this morning didn't quite meet my expectations," Kakashi began. "On the account that you did slightly surprise me earlier, I'll give you a second chance. After lunch, we will continue this exercise."</p>
<p>Sasuke's strangeness had thrown him so off kilter that the words didn't come across as menacing as he wanted it to. It would be fun to scare the genins a little bit, but he was quite perturbed at Sasuke's uncanny behavior that there was no room in his brain to plot ways to mess with them.</p>
<p>Just when Kakashi was certain that he was starting to figure Sasuke out, he had thrown another curveball in his direction. While Naruto and Sakura accepted his decision and had begun eating their lunch rapidly, surprise was written all over Sasuke's face. His eyebrows were knitted together, forming creases in his forehead, almost like he was wondering where he had gone wrong when he had been so sure of his answer.</p>
<p>He hadn't gone wrong. He just tried it on the wrong person. No matter how much planning, how much scheming, there was no way that he would have known that Kakashi and him were basically the same person. Both young prodigies who were too full of themselves to realize their comrades' worth and would do anything to further their objectives.</p>
<p>Kakashi had been so hopeful, hoped that maybe Sasuke was another Obito instead of another Kakashi. Seeing his performance today served to dash all of his hopes away, but that was fine. He failed two teams before them, a third wouldn't make any difference. At most, he'll get another lecture from the higher ups and suffer from accusatory looks from his peers. This time, it might be worse because he would have failed the Uchiha prodigy, something no one has done, since ever.</p>
<p>What else was new? He was used to being alienated anyways.</p>
<p>Their second chance started and already, they were off to a rocky start with Naruto and Sasuke arguing in the middle of the clearing. Sakura looked uncertain as to what she should do, her body language indicated that she wanted to take Sasuke's side, but it seemed that her newly formed camaraderie with Naruto was strong enough to keep her from outright doing so.</p>
<p>Mentally, Kakashi was tired. He was ready to jump down from the trees, to break up their argument, to send his third team back to the Academy. He would fail another team, dash away their dreams, and once again, be the bad guy. But Kakashi couldn't get soft; if he did, then they would all wind up dead.</p>
<p>This was his way of making up Minato's mistake, making up for the fact that his sensei had allowed his stupid kid self pass. It didn't matter if kid Kakashi would resent Minato forever; at least, his team would still be alive.</p>
<p>Right as he was about to jump down, he heard a voice behind him.</p>
<p>"He's over there, top of the trees." Sakura.</p>
<p>There was just enough time for his eyes to flicker down to clearing, to confirm that Sakura was still down there and then for him to realize they were all transformations of Naruto's clones before Naruto and Sasuke jumped out of the trees and attacked him. Kakashi hopped out of the trees.</p>
<p>Naruto's clones had given up the farce, reverting back to their normal image. All three attacked him head on and were easily dealt with, popping out of existence. The real Naruto came at him with a strong punch, which Kakashi caught. Grabbing hold of his wrist, Kakashi swung Naruto around and released him, sending him flying across the clearing from the momentum. He jumped upward to avoid Sasuke's sweep, while deflecting the barrage of shurikens that had been set off by Sakura, who was still hiding somewhere in the trees.</p>
<p>Kakashi couldn't catch a break. Naruto and Sasuke effectively tag teamed throughout, while Sakura provided support from the trees. Somehow, she had the time to set up a slew of traps everywhere and relished in the glee of setting them off one by one, to add in to the chaos.</p>
<p>This was a real team.</p>
<p>A small genjutsu knocked Naruto out of commission. Upon seeing Naruto fall, Kakashi noted that Sasuke's eyes flickered over to him, concern etched over his face. He lost his focus for a brief moment, a move that would have been costly in battle, yet to Kakashi, it affirmed that he truly cared.</p>
<p>Maybe it wasn't a scheme after all.</p>
<p>Sakura must have noticed that Naruto was under a genjutsu because she came out of trees to help Naruto while Sasuke tried to fend Kakashi off. Tried was the key word. Despite it all, he was just a genin prodigy while Kakashi was a jonin, so it wasn't long before Kakashi knocked Sasuke clean on his back. He turned on Sakura, catching her off guard - he would need to work on her awareness - and sent her sprawling to the ground.</p>
<p>Naruto was still slightly dazed and struggled to sit up.</p>
<p>Kakashi gave them one of his eye smiles. "Congrats, you pass!"</p>
<p>All three were too tired to offer much more than a weak groan. Even Naruto, who seemed to have an endless amount of energy, opted to continue lying on the grass. With great effort, Sakura pushed herself into a sitting position, happiness radiating from her features. And Sasuke?</p>
<p>He was smirking, but it wasn't one of arrogance, but rather it was full of pride.</p>
<p>Maybe there was still hope for this team after all.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Kakashi was wrong when he thought Naruto would cause him the most trouble. That wasn't to say that Naruto didn't cause him any trouble, he still did, but Sasuke took it to a whole new level.</p>
<p>First, it had been the little things, which Kakashi could ignore, but when it started escalating, Kakashi was convinced that something was seriously wrong with Sasuke.</p>
<p>A few days after Team Seven formed, Kakashi found out that Sasuke always showed up a mere five minutes before he did. It was such a natural occurrence that Naruto and Sakura never questioned it, just like they never questioned Kakashi's tardiness anymore. Kakashi wasn't all that surprised to find out about Sasuke's behavior; he'd always been the smart one after all.</p>
<p>What was the point in showing up early if their sensei wasn't going to be there until three hours later? That was what Kakashi would have thought if he was in Sasuke's position, but Kakashi liked to argue that it could be used as quality team bonding time.</p>
<p>Sasuke probably used those three hours to train somewhere on his own. While Kakashi would prefer that he trained with his teammates, training individually was fine with him since Sasuke cooperated during team training. He'd even seen Sasuke helping out Naruto and Sakura a couple of times, something that Kakashi never did when he was on Team Minato. At least, it was nice to see that Sasuke wasn't becoming a second him.</p>
<p>Maybe Kakashi had spoken too soon.</p>
<p>One time, Kakashi arrived early. He hadn't planned on it, but another shinobi had come by to pay their respects to the memorial stone. Having already been there for almost three hours, Kakashi knew that he couldn't be selfish and allowed his fellow comrade to have some privacy. Having nothing better to do, Kakashi decided that he might as well show up early.</p>
<p>Only to find that Sasuke had just arrived, in the middle of delivering an excuse. One that was eerily similar to what Kakashi used.</p>
<p>"Sorry. I was helping out an old lady carry her groceries home and then a black cat stepped in my path so I had to go the long way." Sasuke somehow delivered it in the same serious tone that Kakashi did.</p>
<p>"Ah save it! You sound just like Kakashi sensei," Naruto groaned. Sakura didn't comment; just gave him a weird look before they began their team exercises.</p>
<p>By the time Kakashi decided to show himself, he was still reeling from the revelation that Sasuke Uchiha of all people was using his excuses to the point where he had forgotten to give one of his own. No one mentioned it; Sakura and Naruto were sick of hearing the same set of excuses come from two of their teammates.</p>
<p>They secretly wondered what possessed Sasuke, while Kakashi wondered if he was being a horrible influence for the last Uchiha.</p>
<p>Team Seven had been assigned their seventh - or was it eighth, Kakashi couldn't really remember - D ranked mission. Like usual, Naruto groaned about getting another boring mission, picking up trash, while Sakura accepted the mission quietly. Sasuke showed no reaction.</p>
<p>The team agreed on a time, but everyone knew that Sasuke and Kakashi wouldn't show up at the agreed time. Kakashi supposed that Sakura's penchant for following the rules kept her from copying what Sasuke had done. For Naruto, where Sakura was, he was too.</p>
<p>However, Kakashi was called in later that day and was assigned an A ranked mission following Team Seven's D ranked mission. It was set to start an hour after the D ranked mission, which normally wouldn't be a problem, except that meant Kakashi couldn't be late. As unnecessary as it was, jonin senseis had the duty of supervising them and ultimately signing off on their mission.</p>
<p>Naruto and Sakura would have a field day when they saw that he showed up on time, for once. As for Sasuke, Kakashi would need to track him down tomorrow to inform him of the change of plans.</p>
<p>Kakashi was up bright and early in the morning. He made a quick stop to the memorial stone, this time conscious to keep his visit short. On his way to their meeting spot, Kakashi made a slight detour to Sasuke's house to collect him. If he wasn't there, then he would check the training ground that the Uchiha frequented.</p>
<p>Kakashi perched on the windowsill; he never did like doing things the conventional way. His hand was raised, knuckles ready to rasp the glass to get Sasuke's attention when he faltered. Sasuke had walked back into the room only half-dressed, presumably having gotten out of the shower. Everything seemed to be completely normal...except for the fact that there was a mask that donned the lower half of Sasuke's face.</p>
<p>A navy, blue mask just like his own.</p>
<p>The sight had shocked him to the point where Kakashi slipped from the windowsill. He didn't even try to fight it, allowing himself to land on the ground next to Sasuke's apartment complex.</p>
<p>The lateness he could excuse. The excuses were probably just to mock him. But the mask? Kakashi was becoming more and more convinced that this wasn't just a coincidence; Sasuke was deliberately doing it. What was his motive? To freak him out? But Sasuke was at home and no one would ever see him wear his mask.</p>
<p>Kakashi tried to eradicate the cursed image from his mind, but it stayed firmly put. Running up the stairs of his complex, Kakashi knocked on his door - doing it the right way this time - slipped a note under his door to inform him of the change of plans, and then dashed away.</p>
<p>He couldn't look Sasuke in the eye for the rest of the day.</p>
<p>Sometime after that horrific incident, one that Kakashi tried to forget but couldn't, Sasuke showed up with another surprise. He came to training one day, with his headband pulled down covering his left eye. The worst part was that Sasuke acted completely natural about it, like he had always done that all along.</p>
<p>"Ano, is there something wrong with your eye?" Sakura ventured to ask.</p>
<p>Sasuke gave her an offhand response. "My eye hurts." And that had been the end of that conversation.</p>
<p>His eye was hurting and Sasuke didn't choose to go to the hospital, didn't choose to take a day off of training to rest, but instead had chosen to cover his eye in the same manner that Kakashi did. Kakashi strongly suspected that Sasuke was lying, that it was just an excuse so they wouldn't continue pestering him.</p>
<p>Naruto and Sakura may have not noticed, but Kakashi certainly did. While he wasn't fighting, Sasuke's left eye seemed fine albeit sometimes his eye would twitch uncontrollably. While sparring, Sasuke had the habit of subtly closing his left eye, but not for extended periods of time lest it roused suspicions. It seemed that when both of his eyes were open, his depth perception was off, but when his eye was closed, the problem went away.</p>
<p>Like today, Sasuke fought perfectly, living up to his prodigy status. In previous spars, some of the mistakes that Sasuke made, like the misjudgment of distance seemed so rookie, but Kakashi hadn't given it a second thought since he was still a genin.</p>
<p>Now he understood what was wrong. And he couldn't fathom why.</p>
<p>Why the hell was Sasuke fighting like he had years of experience without the vision of his left eye? Most shinobis needed both eyes to fight effectively, losing one or both eyes signalled the end of their shinobi careers. Kakashi had been the exception, but even so, it had taken him a ridiculously long time to get used to fighting one eyed. And then for him to get used to fighting with both all over again when he used the Sharingan.</p>
<p>Kakashi decided an intervention was in order; he needed to find out what was going through Sasuke's head, so he pulled him aside after training. Sasuke looked like he wanted to be anywhere but under his scrutinizing gaze, but he wasn't surprised that Kakashi pulled him aside.</p>
<p>Kakashi didn't bother with the semantics; he got straight to the point. "Why are you covering your left eye?"</p>
<p>Sasuke must have sensed that the "my eye hurts" excuse wouldn't work on Kakashi or if it did, then he would earn himself a ticket to the hospital, so he didn't bother to dish it out again.</p>
<p>"I'm training."</p>
<p>"Training," Kakashi repeated. "Training how?"</p>
<p>"Training how to fight with a disability," Sasuke explained. "I'm going to have the Sharingan one day and the clan books say that the Sharingan causes blindness from overuse. I'm just preparing myself in case that happens; I don't want to be a liability on the battlefield."</p>
<p>That explanation made sense. If it had been anyone else, they would have bought into the explanation, but Kakashi didn't. Despite that, he still sent Sasuke on his way home, knowing that he wasn't going to get anything more out of the tight lipped boy. He would just have to figure it out himself.</p>
<p>Because his explanation didn't explain why he knew how to fight with one eye like he had been practicing for years.</p>
<p>Mystery shrouded his student. Although Kakashi had more questions than answers, he was determined to not get in too deep. Prying into other people's personal lives was something that Gai did, not Kakashi. As long as Kakashi pretended that he didn't know that Naruto practically lived off of ramen or that Sakura had gotten her first period during their last mission or that Sasuke secretly wore a mask in his own apartment, then everything would be fine. He would retain an image of his innocent, clumsy genin students, while he was their perpetually late, lazy sensei.</p>
<p>It was a mutual understanding that Kakashi would not pry into their personal lives, while they wouldn't bother his life either. If they saw each other in the streets, Kakashi would simply nod in acknowledgement and his student, whichever one he happened to run into, would go along their way. Most of the time it was Sakura, she seemed to enjoy frequenting the market with her blonde friend, so that wasn't a problem.</p>
<p>Unlike Minato sensei, Kakashi did not want to keep an open door policy. Sakura wouldn't abuse it, but Naruto might come banging at his door at all hours to go out for ramen. Kakashi used to think that Sasuke wouldn't even bother to come by, just like Kakashi always had to be dragged to Minato's house, but the more he learned about his student, the more of a mystery he was becoming.</p>
<p>It was just safer if he never extended that invitation. Who knew what he would do next?</p>
<p>It was Friday afternoon. His team finished their mission early and Kakashi was feeling generous for once, so he allowed them to take the rest of the day off, rather than dragging them to the mission desk or continue training. After all three of them were out of sight, Kakashi contemplated on what he could do.</p>
<p>Training was out of question; he'd already scheduled a training session with Gai later today. His hand unconsciously reached for his back pocket, ready to pull out his worn copy of Icha Icha, but refrained from doing so. Kakashi already read the entire book during their D ranked mission earlier; there would be no joy in finishing it twice in one day.</p>
<p>Jiraiya seriously needed to hurry up and release the next book.</p>
<p>Kakashi sighed as he thought about what he was going to eat for dinner. He supposed that he needed to get groceries. Not the way he wanted to spend his time off, but it was a necessity, so he started heading towards the village market.</p>
<p>He knew Naruto frequented the ramen stand, so Kakashi took care to take the roundabout way to avoid walking past it. If Naruto saw him, he would inevitably rope him into eating ramen with him and then Kakashi would be saddled with the bill. No thanks.</p>
<p>Taking the roundabout way hadn't been all that bad because Kakashi passed by a bookstore on his way to the fruit stand. He heard of this bookstore, but it was located two streets away from the main street of Konoha's market that Kakashi always opted to go to the one on the third block of the main street for the sake of convenience. All the books that he ever wanted were always there, so he never had the need to come to this one.</p>
<p>It was a surprise that this bookstore could still stay open, despite most of the foot traffic shifting to the more popular bookstore located in a more desirable location. Some said that this store offered some classics that couldn't be found in the other store or in Konoha's library, so that might have added to the appeal.</p>
<p>Kakashi was already here and he had some time to kill, so it wouldn't hurt to take a look around. He stepped through the front door, the bell above his head ringing as he opened the door. Nodding at the girl behind the counter as his way of greeting, Kakashi began to wander up and down the aisles.</p>
<p>It was just as the others have said; there were books and scrolls from his childhood that he hadn't seen in a while. There were even works that even predated his generation, spanning all the way back to the Warring States Era. It was a pity that no one had an eye for classic literature anymore.</p>
<p>And despite what everyone else thought, Kakashi didn't only read Icha Icha. It just so happened that Icha Icha was his go to book to carry around, but that didn't mean he didn't read anything else. For the record, he was pretty well read, having scoured through the majority of works that the Konoha Library had to offer.</p>
<p>Kakashi plucked a few titles off of the shelves, tucking them under his arm. He had been so absorbed in his book hunt that he hadn't realized there was another person in the store until he rounded the aisle. And then proceeded to duck back on the other side of the bookcase, before he cautiously leaned forward, craning his neck to look over at the other aisle.</p>
<p>He hadn't been hallucinating. The person he had seen was Sasuke. His student was currently thumbing through the pages of a book, smiling as he read the contents. Kakashi glanced at the metal plating on the side of the bookshelf, noting that it was the Adult section, but the label gave no more specifics beyond that. Most of the aisles he had gone through were labelled as the Adult section too.</p>
<p>Sasuke reading wasn't all that weird. In fact, Kakashi was more weirded out that he had to run into his student in such an obscure place, but he never did have such luck avoiding annoying people. Gai was a testament to that. As Kakashi turned to head to the front counter to pay for his stack of books, he froze when he heard a giggle.</p>
<p>A fucking giggle. From Sasuke's Uchiha's mouth. That made him so uncomfortable on so many levels that Kakashi couldn't even begin to explain.</p>
<p>Kakashi took another peek, trying to make out the title of the book, but Sasuke's hand blocked it. When he saw Sasuke's other hand go up to his mouth, in an effort to hide his giggle, Kakashi pulled away, feeling a bit of bile forming at the back of his throat.</p>
<p>There was a reason why Kakashi didn't want to know anything about his students' personal lives. The image of a stoic prodigy had been effectively shattered in his mind. He could never look at his student the same way again.</p>
<p>How did this kid turn out so differently from his brother? That was a mystery that he would never find out.</p>
<p>Kakashi swore up and down that he didn't want to know anything about his students' personal lives, but he couldn't help the curiosity that washed over him. When he saw that Sasuke finally left the shop, after putting the book back on the shelf, Kakashi took the chance to sneak over to where Sasuke had been standing moments before. His eyes roved the spines of the books, trying to pinpoint the location where Sasuke had placed the book back.</p>
<p>Hmm, most of them were relatively normal titles and Kakashi was starting to think that maybe he had overreacted when he found the book that Sasuke had been reading.</p>
<p>
  <em>Icha Icha Paradise.</em>
</p>
<p>All the books fell from his hands, clattering to the floor in an ungraceful heap as Kakashi bolted out of the bookstore.</p>
<p>He resisted the urge to scream.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Even Naruto knew that Sasuke has been acting strangely since the day that they became a team. The worst part was that he wasn't even trying to hide it and it made him wonder where the stick up his ass had gone. For one, Sasuke acted like he actually liked working with them. Of course, Naruto had his suspicions that it had all been an act to pass the bell test, which was why he agreed to work with him in the first place, but when the kindness continued, Naruto was so sure that there was an ulterior motive. Or maybe it was a prank, but Sasuke-who-had-a-stick-up-his-ass-Uchiha didn't do pranks.</p>
<p>Naruto didn't know what was going on, so he asked Sakura. Sakura was smart; she would know. Turned out, she was as confused as he was.</p>
<p>"What do you mean you don't know?" Naruto asked. "Aren't you supposed to know that teme better than me?"</p>
<p>Sakura shrugged. "Not anymore, I guess. Don't you feel like he became a completely different person?"</p>
<p>Naruto nodded vigorously in agreement.</p>
<p>"Maybe it's because we didn't know him that well in the Academy," Sakura theorized and Naruto latched onto every word because she was the smart one. "Like maybe we had a picture of him being a cool, aloof prodigy, but now we're finding out his real personality since we're a team. It's inevitable that we get closer."</p>
<p>Naruto frowned. He didn't know what the word aloof meant, but he could guess. "But wasn't he like that? He didn't like to talk to anyone and he always gave off the vibe that he thought he was better than the rest of us. And now he acts like he actually likes us?"</p>
<p>"I don't think he can fake that. Maybe he was just quiet in the Academy and we misunderstood him."</p>
<p>Naruto was still skeptical, but he was willing to have an open mind about Sasuke. The debacle during their Land of Waves mission proved Sakura's theory was right; Sasuke did care about him, so much that he would shield him from a few senbons. Since then, Naruto was dead set on treating him like a brother.</p>
<p>There were still some times that Naruto felt Sasuke knew things that he shouldn't, like what excuse Sensei was going to give them, or look at Sensei weirdly, like when he did while Sensei fought Zabuza the first time, but overall, Sasuke wasn't too bad.</p>
<p>So when the time came, Naruto didn't hesitate to include Sasuke in on his plan.</p>
<p>"We got to see under Kakashi sensei's mask," Naruto whispered furtively, aware that Sensei had just left not too long ago. Just a precaution, in case he was still in the vicinity.</p>
<p>"What?" Sakura asked. "Why?"</p>
<p>"Aren't you curious about what's underneath his mask? What if he has big lips? Or buck teeth?"</p>
<p>Sakura pondered for a moment, before adding, "Maybe he has some facial disfigurement."</p>
<p>Naruto's eyes swung to Sasuke. "Are you in or are you out?"</p>
<p>"Fine," Sasuke grounded out, a hint of his former self leaking out. "How are we going to do this?"</p>
<p>And when Naruto started spilling his plan, both of them admitted that, for once, he had a decent plan.</p>
<p>They found themselves at Ichiraku Ramen stand. Sensei took the seat closest to the wall, followed by Sasuke, him and Sakura. All of them took turns warding off Sensei's suspiciousness that they were trying to pull a prank on them, Naruto was glad for Sakura's quick thinking. When finally, Sensei had finally let down his guard and agreed to eat the bowl of ramen without any reservations, Naruto was practically on the edge of his seat.</p>
<p>Breaking the chopsticks. Finger reaching for the tip of his mask, moments away from pulling it down.</p>
<p>And then the moment was completely disrupted when Team Ten appeared out of nowhere. Sasuke let out a yelp as someone rammed into him, forcing him to stand up. Naruto's eyes widened; Sasuke was blocking the damn way!</p>
<p>"Damn it Sasuke, get out of the way!" Naruto yelled above the assortment of noises that both teams made. By the time Sasuke finally sat back down, Sensei had already finished eating, masking already back in place.</p>
<p>Their jaws dropped. After seeing heart-shaped eyes on both Teuchi and Ayame, their curiosity intensified tenfold.</p>
<p>
  <em>I really want to know…</em>
</p>
<p>His next brilliant plan was to stalk Sensei, which was met by various counterpoints from Sakura.</p>
<p>"He's a jonin; he'll sense us."</p>
<p>"We can just say that we're doing stealth training."</p>
<p>"He's not going to take off his mask in public."</p>
<p>"I know. We're going to try to figure out where he lives. Then we can watch him through the window or something; he's gotta take off that mask in his own apartment, ya know?"</p>
<p>"And what if he has his blinds pulled?"</p>
<p>"Then we'll break in!" Naruto exclaimed. "I don't know if it'll work, but it's the best idea that I got. It's worth a shot at least."</p>
<p>Surprisingly, Sasuke was the first to agree. "Sure." Upon Sakura's skeptical look, Sasuke amended his statement. "The dobe's plan almost worked the first time and there's not much else we can do other than invite him to eat again. And he's already suspicious of us."</p>
<p>"Fine."</p>
<p>They took turns following him. Each of them returned to the rendezvous position, with a defeated look on their faces and informing the rest that they managed to lose track of him. Sensei was a jonin, so it was natural that he would be onto them. If one pair of eyes weren't enough to keep up with his whereabouts, then surely three pairs would be sufficient?</p>
<p>From then on, the three of them followed him together. Naruto's tactic worked for a while, if someone was turned the other way, someone else would spot where Sensei went. The game continued and the trio had been at it for hours, but it seemed that Sensei liked to take his sweet time traversing the village.</p>
<p>Naruto groaned; why couldn't he just go home?</p>
<p>His interest was reignited as Sensei began walking down a less crowded district, towards the residential area. All three of their senses were alert, hardly daring to even blink lest Sensei disappeared from their sight again.</p>
<p>This was finally it. They would find out where he lived and then they could commence with plan two.</p>
<p>Or so Naruto thought until he heard a loud boisterous voice pierce through the silence.</p>
<p>"Ah my eternal rival!" Their heads snapped to the right, to see a man clad head to toe in a green jumpsuit with orange leg warmers. Besides him, Sakura shuddered upon registering his atrocious hairstyle. Sasuke was surprisingly jumpy and Naruto had no idea why.</p>
<p>Much to his shock, Sensei actually addressed the weird man.</p>
<p>"Ah Gai. Did you need something?"</p>
<p>"Are you up for a youthful spar today?"</p>
<p>"Well…" Sensei eyed the grocery bags in his hands and then flickered to meet Gai's eyes again. "I have to get these groceries home first."</p>
<p><em>Yes! </em>Naruto inwardly cheered. Sensei was finally heading home; they were moments away from finding out where their ever elusive Sensei and then-</p>
<p>And then Sasuke fell off of the roof, landing in between Gai and Sensei, cutting off the former who was in the middle of agreeing to postpone their sparring match until Sensei's groceries could be safely stowed away.</p>
<p>Sasuke fucking Uchiha fell. Naruto couldn't quite believe his eyes. His jaw dropped, mouth gaping like a fish who was out of the water. Besides him, Sakura was equally shocked and confused, her eyes riveted on the scene below.</p>
<p>Sasuke picked himself off of the ground, wiping the dirt off of his white shorts. Gai was asking if he had been injured in the fall, while Sensei simply looked amused that Sasuke appeared out of nowhere. Amused, but not shocked.</p>
<p>"Ah so it's you three that's been following me today," Sensei commented.</p>
<p>Sasuke didn't get a chance to respond, not when Gai planted his hands on his shoulders, turning him around and around to check for any injuries. From above, both of his teammates were too absorbed in the scene, highly amused at Sasuke's predicament.</p>
<p>"Serves the teme right for falling down," Naruto murmured.</p>
<p>So amused and so absorbed, none of the three genins noticed that Sensei had taken the opportunity to slip away unnoticed. By the time Sakura noticed and voiced her inquiry aloud, Naruto searched the vicinity for a sign of their sensei.</p>
<p>And promptly cursed underneath his breath when he realized that Sensei was gone.</p>
<p>Team Seven had given up on the idea until their next C ranked mission rolled around. After hearing that it was a mission out of the village, Naruto's creative mind was ignited once more as he thought of the possibilities.</p>
<p>Pushing Sensei into a lake so that he would be forced to change...sneak up on him while he was sleeping...watch him while he ate...convince him to go to the hot springs…</p>
<p>And when he relayed all those plans to Sasuke and Sakura, the two of them needed less convincing than the first time around. During the walk to their destination, Naruto couldn't stop snickering and he was pretty sure Sensei was completely weirded out by his eccentric behavior.</p>
<p>Naruto couldn't help it; the thought of finally being able to best Sensei made him giddy.</p>
<p>When they settled down at the inn for the night, Naruto was practically bursting with excitement. Dinner time couldn't come fast enough and soon, they were all seated on the mats around the dining table. All three of them had chosen to sit across the table, knowing that they would get a better vantage point this way.</p>
<p>Sensei raised an eyebrow. "Oh? No one wants to sit next to me?"</p>
<p>Sakura bit out some excuse of how they were smaller so all three of them could fit comfortably on this side of the table while Sensei should have the entire space to himself. Sensei nodded, accepting her answer.</p>
<p>But he just wouldn't eat. Instead, he nodded at his students to start eating.</p>
<p>Sasuke was the first to pick up his chopsticks, shoving a mouthful of rice. Sakura followed, taking care to only bend her head down for a split second lest she missed the show. Naruto and Sensei simply had a stare off. Sensei's chin jerked towards the food.</p>
<p>"Not going to eat, Naruto?"</p>
<p>"Ahaha, it's impolite to eat before my elders." Besides him, both Sakura and Sasuke's eyebrows twitched, almost as if to say "when have you cared about formalities."</p>
<p>"Maa, but I'm giving you permission to eat first. I wouldn't want my students to starve."</p>
<p>Fine, if it was going to be that way, then Naruto would have to do something drastic. He stood up, grabbing the teapot from the middle of the table. Naruto made a show of pouring himself tea, then Sakura and Sasuke, and lastly moved as if he were going to pour tea for Sensei as well. At the last moment, Naruto released his grip on the handle and sent the teapot flying towards Sensei's face.</p>
<p>"My hand slipped!"</p>
<p>Sensei's reflexes were lightning fast. He had ducked and flipped the table just in time for the teapot to hit the wooden surface. All of their food slid down onto the mats, gone completely to waste. Sensei set the table back down.</p>
<p>"Ah sorry, I just reacted," Sensei murmured in a manner that suggested he was far from apologetic. "But at least Sasuke managed to save some food for you."</p>
<p>Naruto's head jerked to his right, only to see that Sasuke had managed to secure two plates of food from the wreckage. How had he known to do that? Or perhaps, his reflexes were just as quick as Sensei's was.</p>
<p>After citing that he wasn't hungry, Sensei left the room, leaving the three of them to plot again. Throughout, Sakura berated him for the stupid move - why in the world did he think throwing a teapot was a good idea - and in Naruto's defense, he had to do something. In retrospect, he grudgingly admitted that Sakura was right, if it had hit, having scalding hot water splashed all over his face was a recipe for disaster.</p>
<p>Sasuke didn't contribute much to the discussion other than the food.</p>
<p>Their next move was the hot springs at the inn. Convincing Sensei to go into the hot springs was easy, all he had to do was ask. Unfortunately, Sakura would have to be left out of the plan since there were no mixed baths. It didn't matter anyways, the entire plan was a bust.</p>
<p>Who the hell wore a mask in the hot springs?</p>
<p>Sasuke shrugged it off, almost like he predicted this would happen.</p>
<p>Most of their focus during the mission was their self-appointed mission rather than the actual mission at hand, which led them to be lectured by Sensei after they failed to notice the bandits. In the end, Sensei had to be the one to take care of them, after mistakenly tying up his own students since they decided it was a good idea to steal their disguise.</p>
<p>In Naruto's defense, he thought it was a good disguise at that time.</p>
<p>After Sensei's lecture, Naruto decided to take a leap of faith. He just had to know and he was completely out of ideas.</p>
<p>"Kakashi sensei! Can you show us what's under your mask?"</p>
<p>Sensei blinked in surprise, eyes crinkling in amusement. "Ah so that's what you were after these past few days?" Sakura and Naruto nodded in unison. "You could have just asked. Behind this mask…" Both of them leaned forward. If Naruto hadn't been focused on Sensei's mask, he would have noticed that Sasuke didn't seem to share the same excitement at the reveal.</p>
<p>"Is another mask!" Sensei yanked down his mask to reveal another mask. "Pretty cool huh?" Naruto and Sakura toppled over from the shock. Sasuke tsked at the scene, arms crossed over his chest.</p>
<p>Maybe Naruto was too out of it, but he could have sworn he heard Sasuke mutter something under his breath.</p>
<p>"These kids will never see my face."</p>
<p>Huh? Maybe it was Sensei who said that. Yeah, that made much more sense…</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Hi again!</p>
<p>I wrote the majority of this story in a few massive writing sprees, so forgive me for any errors. This is also my first time writing Team 7 as main characters, so getting their personalities down might be a work in progress. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this cracked up version of Sasuke lol. Do let me know which scene you think is the funniest; mine is the bookstore scene! :)</p>
<p>Thank you for reading. Until next time!<br/>-MM</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When Sensei handed them the application for the Chunin exams, Naruto verbally voiced his excitement to the point where Sakura felt like her ears were bleeding from the sheer volume. When Naruto turned to her, a fake smile was already plastered on her face. And then he moved on to hug Sasuke, who stepped back just out of his reach. At least, the one thing that didn’t change was his dislike towards physical touch. </p><p>Sakura had to learn that the hard way. </p><p>While Naruto didn’t seem to notice her apprehension, Sasuke did, so she wasn’t too surprised when he lingered behind on the bridge. He would certainly convince her to take part in the exams; if she didn’t, then their team would be at a disadvantage. Normally Sakura would have soaked up every chance that Sasuke spoke to her, but the Land of Waves mission had been a slap in the face. </p><p>She couldn’t do anything except stand there, scream Naruto and Sasuke’s names, and cry. There was no way that she would pass the Chunin Exams; Sensei probably recommended them because he didn’t want to slow down Naruto and Sasuke’s progress. </p><p>Was it even worth attending? </p><p>“You don’t want to take the exams.” </p><p>There was no hiding it; Sasuke saw right through her. “Yeah…I don’t feel like I’m ready. At all.” </p><p>“It’ll be fine, I promise.” Why did that not sound reassuring at all? </p><p>“Are you sure?” </p><p>“I’m sure,” Sasuke told her, a hint of a smile forming on his face. “You’ll regret it if you don’t.” He didn’t say it in a patronizing manner, but rather in an ominous tone. Almost like he knew something was going to happen and she would sorely regret missing it. </p><p>Sakura took a plunge with her guess. “What’s going to happen?” </p><p>Sasuke smirked. “You’ll see.” </p><p>Sakura didn’t know how that convinced her to take the exams, but she found herself showing up at the Academy bright and early on the day of the exams. She found her team, handed in her application, broke the genjutsu on the second floor and then headed to the third floor. Everything was proceeding as it should be, the first exam was even a confidence booster since she managed to answer every question on the paper with ease. Sakura was hardly worried about the final question; if they could work together as a team, Sakura was certain that between Sasuke and her, they would have an answer. </p><p>All she needed was Naruto to pull through and not let his nerves get to him until they got to the tenth question. That could be his one point. They got this. </p><p>It turned out that Naruto wasn’t the one that she should have been worrying about, but rather herself. As Ibiki posed the question of whether they were willing to risk remaining genin forever if they failed the last question, her nerves began to get the better of her as she watched team after team leave the room. </p><p>And then Sasuke turned around, shooting her a very pointed look that told her to not do it. He eyed her half raised hand, trying to communicate with his eyes to put it down. Sakura did. An uncomfortable feeling churned in her stomach. </p><p>Then everything was alright again when Naruto delivered his speech, citing that he wasn’t a coward. Sakura couldn’t help but laugh, partly out of relief and partly because that move was so Naruto. </p><p>Sakura had never been so glad to get out of a classroom in her life. </p><p>The next day was weird. It wasn’t unusual for Naruto to be hyped up about the second round of exams, Sakura had come to expect it, but for Sasuke to be too? Was this the part where she’ll regret if she wasn’t here to see it? </p><p>Now that the moment was here, Sakura wasn’t quite sure that she wanted to find out exactly what it was. Especially if it was going to take place in this place, one that the proctor called “Forest of Death.” On top of that, all of them had to sign death waivers. </p><p>Sakura’s hand shook as she signed her name on the dotted line. The proctor didn’t hand her a scroll, so that meant one of her teammates had it. He sent her along the way, where she reunited with her team and was led to one of the many entrances to the Forest of Death. </p><p>Sasuke immediately took charge, informing both of them that he had the scroll. Earth. Then he promptly shoved the scroll into Sakura’s hands, while she desperately tried to give it back, but Sasuke was as stubborn as they come. </p><p>“You’re the strongest one on our team, so you should be the one to keep it,” Sakura insisted. She paused for a moment before adding, “No offense Naruto, but he did graduate at the top of our class.” </p><p>“And that’s exactly why I can’t have it. They’ll come after me thinking I’ll carry it, but I’ll just carry a decoy. No one would think that you have it. If we want to outsmart the others, we have to think against normal logic.” </p><p>“But what if they still attack me because I’m an easy target and then still get it from me anyways? I know how much these exams mean to both of you; I don’t want to screw this up.”</p><p>“You’re not a screw up, Sakura chan!” Leave it to Naruto to always make her feel better. “I’ll protect you.” </p><p>Sasuke hummed in agreement. “Others won’t think it’s out of the ordinary that we’ll want to protect you, so they won’t necessarily know that the scroll is with you. Just take it.” And then he shoved it back into Sakura’s hands once more. This time, she didn’t fight it, pocketing the scroll in her weapons pouch. </p><p>Every few seconds, her hand reached inside her pouch, feeling the compulsive urge to touch the scroll to assure herself that it was still there. The act continued until Sasuke swatted her hand away. </p><p>“Stop. That’s basically signalling to everyone that you have the scroll.” Sakura did stop, but that didn’t stop the bundle of nerves that threatened to spill over. Before she knew it, the gates opened and the second round began. </p><p>Sasuke took the lead, immediately taking off towards the trees. Naruto followed, while Sakura took up the rear position. The ominous atmosphere pricked at her senses, sending goosebumps up the length of her arm. Although Sasuke would most likely scold her for it, Sakura couldn’t help but glance over her shoulder every few minutes, like something was going to jump out at her. </p><p>Knowing this place, something definitely would. </p><p>Sasuke ducked expertly around the poison plant, but Naruto seemed to be on track to head straight into it, if not for Sakura, who yanked him back by the collar of his jacket. Unfortunately, she had underestimated her own strength. The force of the backlash sent Naruto careening into her. The force disrupted their balance, sending them tumbling into the clearing below. All the air was knocked out of her as her back made contact with the hard ground. Luckily, Naruto had the sense to shift his trajectory in mid-air so he landed next to her, rather than on her. </p><p>The noise from the commotion must have alerted Sasuke that something happened because he backtracked. Poised on the tree branch, his arms were crossed over his chest as he stared down at them. Naruto had just picked himself off of the ground, rubbing the back of his head. </p><p>Planting her palms against the grass, Sakura shakily pushed herself into a sitting position. Her arms felt like jello and her ears were still ringing from the impact. </p><p>“What happened?” Sasuke demanded. Naruto’s blue eyes swung over to Sakura. Sakura gulped. </p><p>“You were going to run into a poisonous plant. It was too late to warn you, so…”</p><p>Naruto wasn’t the type to blame her, so Sakura wasn’t worried about him. Rather she was worried about Sasuke’s reaction. Old Sasuke would scoff and make some offhand remark that they were slowing him down, but this New Sasuke was a toss up. Sometimes she saw hints of Old Sasuke, but other times, he would act like a completely new person. The theory that she proposed to Naruto was that maybe they hadn’t known him well enough in the Academy to judge; they only saw him at surface level. </p><p>Even Sakura wasn’t convinced by her own proposition, but it was the best that she had. At least Naruto seemed to believe it. </p><p>“Let’s get going. We have to track down Or-” At this, Sasuke coughed and backtracked. “Another team.” </p><p>Sakura latched onto his slip-up, ready to grill him further as to what he had originally meant to say because she didn’t think that it was a pure mistake, when Naruto jutted in, announcing that he really had to pee. Sakura’s instincts kicked in, yelling at him to go somewhere else to do his business. </p><p>Sasuke hardly looked amused; in fact, Sakura could have sworn she saw his visible eye tick in annoyance. He hopped down from the trees, joining her in the clearing. Taking advantage of Naruto’s absence, she jumped on his slip up. </p><p>“Are you looking for someone? It sounded like you were going to say someone’s name. And before we started the exams, it sounded like you knew something was going to happen. It’s going to happen here, isn’t it?” </p><p>“Sharp as always,” Sasuke murmured. Just when Sakura was starting to buy into her theory, Sasuke went ahead and dispelled it again. Sasuke didn’t give compliments and to hear one come from his mouth with practiced ease made her feel more unsettled than giddy. But that was another problem for later; for now, Sakura needed to find out what was going to happen. </p><p>“So I’m right,” Sakura pushed. “What’s going to happen?” </p><p>Sasuke smirked. “You’ll see.” </p><p>Sakura didn’t get the opportunity to interrogate him on the subject any further as Naruto bursted out of the bushes, returning from his bathroom trip. Before he had even taken three steps, Sasuke had thrown a kunai at him. </p><p>“Sasuke, what are you doing?” Sakura yelled, completely astonished that he would attack their teammate. </p><p>Sasuke shot her a deadpanned look. “Open your eyes and look. That’s not Naruto.” </p><p>Her eyes swung to Naruto, eyeing him up and down to see what was missing. When her gaze landed on his left cheek, his unmarred left cheek, it finally dawned on her what Sasuke had noticed. Pushing chakra to the soles of her feet, Sakura propelled herself upwards, following Sasuke as he took the battles to the trees. </p><p>While Sasuke fought the fake Naruto, Sakura searched below for Naruto. Following the source of muffled cries led her to her teammate. Hopping down the trees, she undid the bindings and freed him from the mouth tape, earning herself an earful of curses. Naruto was ready to charge into action, declaring that he was going to extract revenge, when a body landed next to them with a loud thump. </p><p>Sasuke landed next to the unconscious, or was it dead, body, wiping his hands against each other, in a manner that suggested he had done this a million times before. </p><p>“No scroll,” Sasuke announced. “Must be with his teammates.” </p><p>“Should we go track them down then? We’ll have a better chance since they’re at a disadvantage,” Sakura suggested. </p><p>Sasuke shrugged. “Sure we can do that, but I don’t think we’ll make it there.” </p><p>Sakura arched an eyebrow. “Why?” </p><p>“We’ll probably be ambushed on the way there. Using my chakra just gave away our location, so we better get moving.” A logical explanation, but from his nonchalant delivery combined with his eagerness at the start of the exams, why did Sakura get the feeling that Sasuke wanted to be ambushed? Would they be ambushed by the person he was talking about earlier? Was this the show that she didn’t want to miss? </p><p>Sakura didn’t get a chance to ask. Sasuke started moving, Team 7 forming a triangle formation with him at the helm. As they travelled, Sasuke started detailing a plan for having a code so that another Naruto incident didn’t occur again. He rattled off the code, an extremely long code, and while Sakura easily filed the code away in her mind, Naruto looked utterly lost. His mouth parted open, undoubtedly to ask Sasuke to repeat the code, but his unspoken question never came. </p><p>A huge snake appeared out of nowhere, swept the branch and took Naruto with it. Sakura screamed, all sorts of horrible thoughts racing through her head. Her first instinct was to go after Naruto, but after spotting the paper bombs planted on the branches, Sakura was forced to take cover in the other direction. </p><p>A separation tactic, Sakura noted, her Academy knowledge flooding back in. But what good would analyzing the situation do, if there was no way she could counter it? </p><p>Sasuke and Sakura landed in the clearing, followed by a third person. She was extremely pale, such a contrast from the long dark hair that framed her face. A sinister smile appeared on her face, tongue reaching outwards to lick her lips. Sakura’s eyes landed on her forehead: Grass symbol. </p><p>The good news was that it appeared she was alone. The bad news was that Sakura knew that they were severely outmatched, judging from the killing intent that leaked through the area. The killing intent was so suffocating that Sakura found herself completely frozen. Besides her, Sasuke remained rooted in his position as well. </p><p>“Ah, poor genin shaking from fear,” the Grass nin commented, followed by a few sadistic chortles. “Unfortunately, I don’t get much satisfaction out of that. Come on, do something.” </p><p>Sakura tried, tried her hardest to move her damned arm but it felt like a ton of bricks was weighing on her. Sasuke didn’t appear to have the same problem; Sakura watched as he literally flashed across the clearing and delivered a giant fireball straight to the Grass nin’s face. Her screech pierced the clearing. </p><p>Next thing she knew, Sasuke was by her side, breaking her out of her trance. Tugging her by the arm, he dragged her away with him. </p><p>“Listen, don’t interfere with the battle,” Sasuke instructed, after depositing her by the base of a tree. “Let me handle him. If Naruto ever comes back in during the battle, don’t let him interfere.” </p><p>“What?” Sakura grounded out, despite still being slightly out of breath from the disorientating experience. “We’re no match for her. You’re no match for her. We need to get out of here.” </p><p>Once again, Sasuke gave her that same cryptic response. “You’ll see.” And then he turned to face the Grass nin just as the Grass nin picked herself off of the ground. Her face was completely melted, but rather than sustaining third degree burn wounds, the Grass nin tugged at the gooey substance and yanked it off of her to reveal a male face. </p><p>Wait, him? Sakura’s eyes widened. How did Sasuke know that the Grass nin’s true identity? Was this the person he was trying to meet? A sickening feeling emerged in her stomach. No matter how skilled Sasuke was, he was in over his head! The Grass nin wasn’t an ordinary genin! </p><p>“Ku ku ku. How interesting. You were just pretending to be frozen in fear. As expected from the Uchiha prodigy.” </p><p>“Hmph. I was waiting for you, Oro-chi-maru.” Sasuke stated his name in a taunting manner, purposely enunciating every syllable in his name. If that didn’t confirm it, Sakura knew it now: this was the guy he was waiting for. </p><p>Orochimaru seemed to be pleasantly surprised as well. “So you know who I am. That makes everything more interesting.” </p><p>Neither made the move to attack; for now, it seemed that Sasuke was content with talking and Orochimaru was equally interested in dishing out the favor. Time was good. Maybe someone would notice something was wrong and come find them before a fight broke out…</p><p>“Do you want to know what else I know?” </p><p>“Oh pray, do tell.” </p><p>Sasuke did, launching into a list of locations. Sakura had no idea what it meant, but clearly Orochimaru did. If it was possible considering how pale he already was, Orochimaru’s face became even paler and paler as Sasuke listed off each location. </p><p>“Oh imagine the possibilities if I gave away this information to each of the Five Great Nations. Then where will you run? Where will you hide? Where will you conduct your experiments?”</p><p>Orochimaru let out a hissing noise, his killing intent becoming even more intense. “How do you know all of this?” </p><p>“Wouldn’t you like to know?” </p><p>And then Orochimaru lunged at both of them. A slew of snake heads shots out of his left arm. Sakura had barely rolled out of the way, having been so close that she could feel the scaly skin bristle against her own. A chill went down her spine as she rolled again to avoid the second stream of snakes incoming. </p><p>It came a third time. Sakura screamed, fingers reaching for a fistful of shuriken and blindly tossed it at the snakes. The act didn’t do much except for stall them, but it bought her enough precious seconds to leap to her feet. Tugging the ninja wire from her weapons pouch, she threw the kunai into the tree directly across from her. Steeling her nerves for what she was about to do - if Sasuke was brave enough to tackle such a strong ninja then why couldn’t she take care of a few snakes, Sakura held her breath as she waited. </p><p>The snakes came at her, aiming directly at her head. Every instinct her body screamed for her to move, but she somehow found the courage to remain planted in her position. Just when the snakes were about to reach her, Sakura sidestepped and slid under the bundle of snakes. Rolling to her feet, Sakura pushed chakra to her feet to give her the extra boost to use the bundle of snake bodies as a stepping stone back to the other side. </p><p>With all of her strength, she yanked the ninja wire. A squelching noise filled her ears and Sakura was forced to look away as bile began to make its way up her throat. She released the end of the ninja wire from her grasp like it burned her. Sneaking one final glance at the mess of limp snake heads, Sakura leapt away, in search of Sasuke. </p><p>Sasuke wasn’t even taking the fight seriously. He continued to taunt Orochimaru all while dancing gracefully around Orochimaru’s attacks. None of the stuff he said even made sense. </p><p>Like: </p><p>“You want my body don’t you? Come and get it!” </p><p>“Do you really want damaged goods?” Here, Sasuke tapped his cover eye. “I only have one functioning eye.” </p><p>“You want to give me power. Aren’t you afraid that I’ll become strong enough to kill you instead when you try to possess my body?” </p><p>Sakura was convinced that Sasuke was going insane. Or maybe she was hallucinating. Either or. All she knew was that nothing was making any sense. But clearly it did to Orochimaru, since he seemed to get more riled up after each of Sasuke’s statements. </p><p>The fighting intensified. Sakura was so certain that Sasuke would get outclassed by the other nin, but it seemed that Sasuke was holding his own. Holding his own by using jutsus that Sakura didn’t know that he knew how to use. When had he learned earth style? And lightning style? </p><p>It didn’t matter. All that mattered was that it seemed like Sasuke might win. </p><p>Until Orochimaru elongated his neck, head detaching his body and mouth wide open to bite Sasuke while he was trying to recover his footing. Sakura, who was too far away to intervene, could only shout to warn him of the incoming attack. She watched, completely horrified. The time that it would take Sasuke to catch his footing, Orochimaru would have already reached it. To make matters worse, Sasuke would position himself right in the trajectory of his attack. </p><p>Out of desperation, Sakura hurled two kunais at Orochimaru despite knowing that they wouldn’t reach in time. </p><p>Sasuke shocked both of them. He released the chakra from his feet, sending him plummeting to the ground below. While in mid-air, his fingers worked their way through a sealing sequence. A streak of lightning appeared in his hands. Utilizing it like a sword, Sasuke wielded it to slice cleanly through Orochimaru’s neck right as his back hit the ground. </p><p>Sakura hastily scrambled over to Sasuke’s side. </p><p>“Sasuke kun, are you alright?” </p><p>A pained grunt was her only answer. Sakura helped lift Sasuke in a sitting position. When he tried to get up, it was met with protests. </p><p>“Let me take a look at your injuries first.” </p><p>“I need to burn Orochimaru’s head.” Sasuke shot her a deadpanned look. “You happen to know any fire jutsus?” Sakura shook her head no. “Then unless you want to drag his head over to me, help me stand up.” </p><p>Sakura didn’t argue. The thought of touching Orochimaru’s head - his severed head - made her completely squeamish. It was a miracle that she managed to keep her breakfast down, between the snakes and Orochimaru’s grotesque jutsus. </p><p>A triumph smirk was stretched across Sasuke’s face as Orochimaru’s severed head went up into flames. </p><p>“So is he dead?” </p><p>“No.” Sakura wished she never asked at all. </p><p>“No? Didn’t you cut off his head?” </p><p>“He’s practically an immortal being. The only way to get rid of him for good is by sealing.” </p><p>“Why’d you burn the head then?” </p><p>“The satisfaction.” </p><p>“Satisfaction? Did he do something to you?” </p><p>“Lots of things,” came Sasuke’s vague response. The back and forth continued for a little bit longer, Sakura firing question after question and receiving responses that practically told her nothing. The entire time, she felt like she was going in circles: one question would lead to an unclear response which in turn would raise more questions. </p><p>Sakura should have never opened her mouth in the first place.</p><hr/><p>Not that Kakashi was too concerned that they would die in the second part of the exams, but he was glad to see that his students made it out in one piece. Naruto looked relatively unharmed, save for the cut on his left cheek, despite looking a little queasy. Both Sasuke and Sakura made it out only with some dirt clinging onto their clothing. While Sasuke seemed to be smug about something, it was obvious that Sakura didn’t share the same sentiment. In fact, she couldn’t even look him in the eyes. </p><p>Kakashi’s interest piqued. Something interesting must have happened between the two of them, since Naruto remained as oblivious as ever. Did they finally have a heart-to-heart about their feelings while at the height of danger? After all, adrenaline was known to make someone more impulsive. </p><p>Inwardly, he snickered. Why did this sound like a potential plotline for the next Icha Icha book? He’d have to pass that idea along to Jiraiya sama next time he saw him. Quality entertainment and drama at his students’ expense? Small price to pay. </p><p>The preliminary matches began. Kakashi only half paid attention to the first three battles, none of them involved his students anyways. If he had it his way, he wouldn’t have paid attention at all, if not for Gai harping in his ear about how proud he was of his kunoichi student who participated in the third match. In his opinion, it had been a lackluster battle, but he supposed that it was decent for a fight between genin. </p><p>Watching the fights at the chunin exams were boring, at best. Luckily, Kakashi managed to worm his way out of proctor duty this year since his students were participating. At least that was a perk of being a jonin sensei. Plus, Kakashi suspected assigning him to proctor duty was just Sandaime’s way of encouraging him to take on a genin team. And to get back at him for always being late. </p><p>From Team Seven, Sakura was the first to fight. It seemed that whatever happened during the Forest of Death helped Sakura to grow a backbone because Kakashi had never seen her fight with this much determination before. Although her battle ended in a stalemate and she was disqualified from the finals, Kakashi couldn’t help but think that this experience turned out alright. At least Sakura learned something. </p><p>The only fight that didn’t involve his students that Kakashi tuned in on, willingly, was the Nara kid’s. What could he say? Strategic battles interested him. No flashy jutsus, no loud shouting, no talk-no-jutsu, just pure brain and wit. Shikamaru’s battle didn’t disappoint. </p><p>Naruto was the second of his students to go. By the time his name flashed across the screen, it was the seventh battle and Naruto was itching from all the pent up energy. Instead of taking the stairs down to the arena, Naruto launched himself off of the railing. Kakashi kept a neutral expression even as the other jonin senseis’ gazes swung to him, as if to inquire what the hell he had been teaching the kid. </p><p>He didn’t meet any of their eyes during the entire battle. Although there was no tactic in the battle, Kakashi’s attention remained riveted on the two boys the entire time. The Inuzuka had put up a good fight, and it seemed that he was set to win the battle, but of course, Naruto was unpredictable. Somehow he managed to turn the tide of the battle by farting in Kiba’s face. </p><p>Kakashi was torn between face palming himself out of the ridiculousness of the situation and snickering at the Inuzuka’s expense. He didn’t think Kurenai would appreciate that, so he did neither of those options. The battle was a complete mess. A brilliant mess, but still a mess. Not surprisingly, Naruto emerged as the victor. </p><p>The eighth battle featured two Hyuga contestants. Kakashi didn’t want to care about the battle, but it was hard to doze off when Gai had sidled up next to him, loudly pointing out his pupil’s brilliance. Still, Kakashi kept up his facade, pretending that he didn’t hear a word that Gai said, when he heard every single one. </p><p>Loud and clear. </p><p>Ah the tenth battle was the one that Kakashi was waiting for. What made it even better was that Sasuke’s opponent happened to be Gai’s favorite student, Lee. While the others probably had written off Lee as a major threat to Sasuke, Kakashi was one of the few who knew how entertaining this battle would be.</p><p>Out of the corner of his eye, Kakashi glanced at his rival. If this Lee kid turned out anything like his sensei, this was bound to be very interesting. </p><p>“Your student against mine,” Gai stated. “Are you up for another challenge?”</p><p>Kakashi should have known Gai would have tried to make it a challenge. “Rules?”</p><p>“If your student wins, that’s a point for me. If my student wins, I get a point. We’ll see who is the better sensei.” </p><p>It seemed fair, aside from the glaring fact that Lee had one extra year of training with Gai, but Kakashi took him up on the challenge anyways. One, he wasn’t one to back down from a challenge. Two, he had faith in Sasuke. Maybe his student was weird sometimes, but he still lived up to his prodigy status. </p><p>The match began. The two of them went at each other with a series of kicks and punches. Normally, it would have been stupid to try taijutsu against a taijutsu specialist, but as the minutes ticked by, it was clear that Sasuke could easily match Lee blow for blow. The best part was that Sasuke hadn’t even turned on his Sharingan yet. </p><p>And he was doing all of this with one eye. </p><p>Lee capitalized on that fact, doing his best to attack Sasuke’s left side. His obscured vision didn’t hinder Sasuke one bit; it was like he could always sense when Lee was coming. Sasuke’s left arm moved up to block another one of Lee’s kicks before he backflipped three times to create some distance between them. </p><p>The two of them stared at each other with such intensity that it radiated throughout the entire arena. He zoned in on Sasuke’s hand moving to hook underneath his headband, in a motion that suggested that he was going to push it upwards. </p><p>Oh, was he going to use his Sharingan now? </p><p>Lee charged at him, determined to intercept his movement. Whatever Sasuke was going to do would leave Lee at a disadvantage if he allowed him to complete the act. But Kakashi knew that it would be over soon; he’d recognize that move to be similar to his own when it was time to utilize the Sharingan. Lee was completely susceptible to genjutsu. He had no chance. </p><p>When Sasuke yanked his forehead protector upwards, his left eye snapped open, revealing a black eye. Any second now, Kakashi expected to see the black orbs spin into red, but it never happened. </p><p>Sasuke froze. </p><p>And then Lee promptly kicked him in the face, sending him flying across the arena. Kakashi winced as he registered an audible crack as his student’s back hit the wall. </p><p>What the hell was Sasuke doing? Did he think that his Sharingan would magically already be there without turning it on? For Kami’s sake, his Sharingan wasn’t like his! Maybe Kakashi shouldn’t have acquiesced to his shenanigans, allowing him to cover up a perfectly good eye. Look where that ended up for him. </p><p>Sasuke leaned against the wall, unmoving. The proctor moved closer to Sasuke, to check whether he was still conscious for battle. Right as the proctor bent down, Sasuke’s body disappeared in a puff of smoke. Lee’s yelp rang through the arena. Kakashi jerked his head towards the source of the noise. </p><p>Only to find that Sasuke had successfully executed the headhunter jutsu. When had he learned this jutsu? Did his Sharingan copy it when Kakashi used it on him during the bell test? Did he even have the Sharingan then? </p><p>Regardless of the questions that piled up, Kakashi had to admit it was quite amusing to only see Lee’s head sticking from out of the ground. With Gai’s wails about his poor student, it made the scene infinitely more comical. </p><p>Of course, a jutsu that was meant more for pranking than actual damage couldn’t keep Lee down for long. After opening the first two gates, the force from the chakra released widened the hole in the ground allowing Lee enough room to climb out. Sasuke had gotten serious too; this time, his Sharingan was turned on. Two spinning red eyes clashed with a boy who was surrounded by an aura of green colored chakra. </p><p>They moved. </p><p>“What’s going on?” Naruto shouted, leaning even further over the railing as if that would help him see better. Sakura yanked him by the collar of his jacket to prevent him from tumbling over. </p><p>“They’re so fast,” Sakura stated with a tinge of awe in her voice. If not for his Sharingan, Kakashi wouldn’t be able to keep up with their movements. For a normal eye, all they could make was a blur of blue and green. Sometime during the clash, Lee had also removed the weight from his legs and Kakashi was astonished that Sasuke could still keep up with him. In fact, the faster Lee became, the faster Sasuke was too. </p><p>Prodigy or not, even Kakashi couldn’t move that fast when he was a chunin. </p><p>For everyone else, the fight seemed to end quite anticlimactically. One moment they were complete blurs and the next Lee went sailing through the air as Sasuke successfully landed a kick. Lee landed on the ground in an ungraceful heap while Sasuke was declared the winner. </p><p>With his Sharingan, Kakashi had gotten the slow motion of it. While blocking one of Lee's punches, Sasuke had angled his head so that Lee would look directly in his eyes. From there, Sasuke emitted a quick burst of chakra, capturing Lee in a genjutsu. Then taking advantage of Lee’s dazed state, Sasuke backed up before planting his foot in the center of Lee’s stomach. </p><p>Genjutsu, huh? Not that an Uchiha using genjutsu was strange, but Kakashi couldn’t wrap his mind around why Sasuke didn’t end the battle much earlier. </p><p>When his student returned to the balcony, moving to stand next to Naruto again, Kakashi stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. While Gai went down the arena to fetch his student, Kakashi guided Sasuke towards the corner. </p><p>He just had to know what his student was thinking. “Why did you draw out the battle like that?” </p><p>Sasuke knew not to play dumb with him, thank Kami, so it saved them a lot of time from the back and forth that would inevitably occur if it was anyone else. </p><p>Sasuke shrugged. “It was fun.” </p><p>“Fun?” Kakashi repeated. </p><p>“Exhilarating,” Sasuke tried. “It’s been a while since I fought like that.” Why did Sasuke speak like he had a decade of fighting experience under his belt? </p><p>“Really.” Skepticism leaked from his voice. </p><p>“Think of it as training. The only way I would be able to improve my taijutsu skills if I went up against the best. I can’t rely on my Sharingan all the time.” </p><p>Speaking of the Sharingan…”When you pulled up your headband, what happened? You just froze.” </p><p>Sasuke flashed him a sheepish smile. “Ah well...I guess this sounds embarrassing, but I kind of forgot.” </p><p>“Forgot what?” </p><p>“To turn on my Sharingan.” </p><p>Kakashi sucked in his breath. The more he spoke to him, the more convinced that he was clinically insane.  But who was he to judge? </p><p>He was pretty sure he was going insane too. The culprit?</p><p>His team.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Hi again!</p><p>I'm not the best at fight scenes, so I hope it was still a passable experience! Forgetting to turn on his Sharingan is one of the highlights of my ideas list so I hope you enjoyed it as well. And of course, he can't pass up the chance to troll Orochimaru for all the things he's done in the past. :)</p><p>Thank you for reading! Until next time.</p><p>-MM</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Kakashi stood outside the tea shop, back leaning against the wooden panel. With his face obscured by the Bingo Book, most people passing by would assume that he was reading the book. </p>
<p>Except he hadn’t flipped a single page in the past ten minutes. </p>
<p>His focus wasn’t on the words; instead, he subtly glanced over at their visitors every now and then. Back facing towards him, only the distinctive feature of the red cloud pattern of their cloaks stood out. Their straw hats had been tipped forward, casting a shadow on their faces so that Kakashi wasn’t able to make out a single feature when they walked into the quaint shop. </p>
<p>He was eyeing the bandaged bundle strapped on the left man’s back. Eyes flickering back and forth between the actual object and the picture in the Bingo Book, Kakashi concluded that it was a match. </p>
<p>Kisame Hoshigaki, huh? What was he after? What were they after? If the intelligence in the Bingo Book was accurate, then the man on the right was Itachi Uchiha. That would explain how two S classed ninjas sneaked into the village undetected. </p>
<p>When Kurenai and Asuma arrived, Kakashi tried to convey the situation by subtly lifting up his book so they could see the cover and lightly jerking his head in the direction of the tea shop. Asuma was the first to catch on. </p>
<p>“How have your students been? Disappointed that they didn’t make it to chunin?” </p>
<p>Kakashi latched on to the opening that Asuma had given him. “I think Sakura has taken an interest in medical ninjutsu. I see her hanging around the hospital more often than not these days. And well Sasuke-” Here, Kakashi deliberately paused to see if Itachi gave any outward indication that he was listening in. He wasn’t. “-has been working on his Sharingan lately. And you know, Naruto’s been working with Jiraiya sama.” </p>
<p>How interesting that the two enemies’ interest piqued when Kakashi mentioned Naruto’s name. Hmm...they must be after the Kyuubi then. </p>
<p>The three jonins carried on the conversation like they normally did. Kakashi turned the topic to Asuma and Kurenai’s own genin teams and they happily reciprocated. They remained on high alert, until the two of them seemingly disappeared from the tea shop, leaving behind empty tea cups and a handful of ryos. </p>
<p>Kakashi nodded at Kurenai and Asuma. “Be careful. Kisame and Itachi.” </p>
<p>The two of them filed the information away before they disappeared into a swirl of leaves. Kakashi stayed put, aware that Sasuke would show up at any minute for their training session to improve his Sharingan. To be honest, Kakashi didn’t know why he even bothered; Sasuke utilized the Sharingan way more effectively than Kakashi ever could, but the kid insisted. Having nothing better to do with Naruto out of the village and Sakura taking up a shinobi art that he couldn’t help her with, Kakashi agreed. </p>
<p>But as the time ticked by, an unsettling feeling washed over him. Two S class missing ninjas with flee on sight orders...Kurenai and Asuma would surely be no match for them. They needed Kakashi’s strength to even stand a chance, since he was the only one in the village who could maybe counter Itachi’s Sharingan. </p>
<p>Making up his mind, Kakashi left his position, trusting that Sasuke would figure it out. </p>
<p>Kakashi arrived at the scene just in time to save Kurenai from being nicked by Itachi’s kunai and Asuma from being clobbered by Kisame’s sword. Both jonins expressed their surprise that Kakashi had shown up, but there was no time for idle chatter. His Sharingan registered Itachi’s finger move. Jumping backwards, he performed a water jutsu to shield himself while he slipped underwater. Moments later, he bursted out of the water, grabbing Kurenai by the waist thwarting her attempt at attacking Itachi. On the riverbank, Asuma and Kisame exchanged a few more blows before Kisame joined Itachi’s side. </p>
<p>“Don’t look into his eyes!” Kakashi warned, a hard edge in his voice. The last time he worked with Itachi, he was still a kid. At thirteen years old, his Sharingan had been extremely deadly. No doubt it was even deadlier now. </p>
<p>His mind raced through all the potential plans. No doubt Asuma and Kurenai would be at a disadvantage since they weren’t adept at fighting without their eyes. Kakashi needed to be the one to engage Itachi; he was the only one who stood a chance, while the other two dealt with Kisame. </p>
<p>And then he looked up, feeling himself get sucked into a genjutsu and then a very familiar voice rang out. </p>
<p>“Nii san!” </p>
<p>Startled, Itachi broke his concentration from the genjutsu, returning Kakashi to the normal world. Kakashi watched in horror as Sasuke jumped down from the sidewalk, landing deftly on the water right besides him. And started taking steps towards Itachi. </p>
<p>Kakashi held him back. “What are you doing here, Sasuke? You need to leave, right now!” Sasuke acted like he didn’t even hear him. </p>
<p>“Hi nii san,” Sasuke greeted cheekily, in a way that a five year old kid would. “You finally came back! You promised to train with me, remember? Are you free right now?” </p>
<p>Kami, either Sasuke was horrible at reading the situation or he was trolling his older brother or he had gone insane or all of the above, but his stupidity(?) had stunned them all in silence. Even Kisame gave no indication that he was going to attack, probably too amused by the show. Itachi was utterly speechless. </p>
<p>“Oi, didn’t know that you had a younger brother,” Kisame commented lightly. “Isn’t he supposed to hate you?” </p>
<p>Itachi’s mouth opened and then closed. Sometime during the three minutes of long, uncomfortable silence, Itachi finally found his voice again. “You cannot beat me if you are still this weak, little brother.” </p>
<p>“But I don’t want to fight you. We’re the last two living Uchihas.” Sasuke paused, rubbing the bottom of his chin in thought. “Wait, three. There’s three of us.” Sasuke nodded as if to affirm his own statement. “If I kill you, then there would only be two of us and then we would really go extinct.” </p>
<p>“You’re delusional.” Kakashi was impressed at how even Itachi’s voice sounded. “We are the only two left.” </p>
<p>A daring glint appeared in Sasuke’s dark orb. “Is that so?” And then he proceeded to list off a list of names. “Sasori. Hidan. Deidara. Zetsu. Kakazu. Pein. Konan. You. Kisame. And who else?” Sasuke snapped his fingers. “Ah. Tobi. Or does he go by Madara right now?” </p>
<p>Itachi’s facial features didn’t even twitch while Sasuke spoke, but his complexion grew paler by the second as the blood drained out of his face. Kisame was no longer amused. He lifted the Samehada and pointed the tip right at Sasuke. His student didn’t even flinch. </p>
<p>“Who are you?” Kisame demanded. “How do you know all of that?” </p>
<p>“I’m from the future.” </p>
<p>“Not funny,” Kisame growled out, slamming the Samehada in the water. The three jonins leapt out of the way, narrowly avoiding the splash of water. Sasuke hadn’t been as lucky; he’d been right in the trajectory of the waves. When the droplets of water settled back down, Sasuke was wet from head to toe. </p>
<p>Despite that, he was still smirking. “Hit a nerve, didn’t I? I know all of your secrets. Do you believe me or do you want to hear more?” </p>
<p>Kisame’s first instinct was to attack Sasuke again and Kakashi shifted protectively in front of his student. All of that was unnecessary as Itachi held out an arm, signalling Kisame to back down. </p>
<p>“Whether or not you know of our secrets is of no importance to us. You are not our target.” </p>
<p>“Of course I’m not. You’ve never even bothered to give me the time of day, which is why it is partly your fault that I turned into a brooding, revenge seeking asshole in the future who decides to destroy Konoha after I find out the truth behind the Uchiha massacre.” Sasuke paused. “Didn’t quite go according to plan?” </p>
<p>“What are you talking about?” It was the first time that Kakashi had seen any hint of emotion in his former subordinate’s eyes in such a long time. </p>
<p>Sasuke never had the opportunity to answer Itachi’s question. The air shifted around above Kakashi. Grabbing Sasuke by the arm, Kakashi yanked him out of the way just as a man materialized out of thin air. </p>
<p>Kakashi’s eyes narrowed at the newcomer. Itachi’s back up? </p>
<p>When the man lifted his head, Kakashi could make out a Sharingan in his visible eye. The third Uchiha that Sasuke had mentioned? Only when Kakashi glanced over at Itachi, shock was written all over his features. </p>
<p>Sasuke crossed his arms over his chest. “Took you long enough to find me.” </p>
<p>The raven haired man snorted. “What the hell have you been doing in my body, Kakashi?” </p>
<p>Nothing he had said made any sense. Kakashi didn’t even want to know how he knew his name, but none of that was even that alarming. </p>
<p>The scariest part? The unknown man hadn’t been looking at him even though he addressed his name. </p>
<p>He was looking straight at Sasuke.</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <em> 7 years in the future  </em>
</p>
<p>It had been a long, exhausting day. In a span of four hours, the moon threat appeared, sending Kakashi in a fury of video calls with the other great nations, assigning missions, and mobilizing Konoha’s force to stall for time. The threat had been resolved relatively quickly, but Kakashi couldn’t help but feel that it had carried on for much longer than four hours. </p>
<p>It had been a nerve racking and fear inducing four hours. </p>
<p>By the time they received the news that the threat had been mitigated, the sky was already pitched dark. Kakashi sent everyone home for the day, while he headed back to the Hokage Tower. </p>
<p>Two guards were stationed on either side of the front entrance, completely lax. They scrambled to straighten their postures upon seeing him approach. The boy on the right flashed him a shaky smile, while the one on the left nodded in greeting before moving to open the door for him. After nodding his thanks, Kakashi breezed past the two guards. He heard an audible suck of air, probably from one of the boys who thought they were off the hook. </p>
<p>Kakashi stopped. “Guard duty may seem boring, but you should never let your guard down.” Without even having to turn around and look, he knew guilt and embarrassment were written all over their face. </p>
<p>“Hai, Hokage sama. It won’t happen again.” Whoever had spoken couldn’t hide the fear from his voice. </p>
<p>Kakashi had no intentions of coming across as a hardass, but the two young chunins would certainly take it that way. Despite being in an era of peace, Kakashi had the instincts of a hardened soldier drilled into him, so it was incredibly difficult to tolerate lax behavior. Having never experienced war, the two boys wouldn’t be able to understand, so he didn’t bother to explain. Instead, he took the label in stride and began traversing through the dark corridors to his office. </p>
<p>Along the way, Kakashi took the time to shut off the lights and close the doors to various rooms that had been abandoned during the emergency. Although the act delayed him for at least ten minutes, ten minutes that he could have been using to catch up on all the pressing matters sprawled across his desk, Kakashi felt responsible. After all, he had been the one to send everyone home once the emergency ended. </p>
<p>The door to his office had been left ajar, which was quite strange since Kakashi had been so sure that it was closed when he left because he went out the window. Immediately his guard went up, but promptly died back down when he noted the familiar chakra signature. Stepping forward, he pushed the door open, the loud creaking noise alerting his visitor of his presence. </p>
<p>Clad head to toe in a dark cloak, all Kakashi could make out in the darkness was his purple eye. </p>
<p>“I thought you would have already left,” was Kakashi’s way of greeting him. </p>
<p>“I got news.” </p>
<p>An eyebrow raised. “Oh? Is this about what happened earlier? The threat has already been dealt with.” </p>
<p>Sasuke pulled out a scroll from underneath his cloak, placing it on his desk. “I found this scroll in one of the dimensions that I passed through.” </p>
<p>“What’s inside?” </p>
<p>“I don’t know. I don’t recognize the seal pattern. I was hoping that you could take it to the cipher team and see if they can find anything of importance since they’re more knowledgeable on the subject.”  </p>
<p>Kakashi nodded. “I’ll bring it to them first thing in the morning.” </p>
<p>Sasuke wasn’t one for small talk; he was already making a move to leave when Kakashi interrupted him. “Are you sticking around or will I need to inform you of the results by letter?” </p>
<p>“There’s something nearby that I want to look at. I’ll be back in three days, so you can let me know then.” With that, Sasuke disappeared; the only indication that he had even been there at all was a small breeze. </p>
<p>Moving the scroll to the corner of his desk to sit beside the large stack of paperwork that seemed to loom over his head, Kakashi picked up the nearest folder and returned to work. In favor of dealing with the moon threat, everything had piled up. Things that needed to be done before the sun rose otherwise he would have a mob of pushy administrative personnels show up, demanding their documents to be signed off. Kakashi lazily thumbed through the papers, giving each a cursory look over. </p>
<p>Why did every single department claim that their paperwork was urgent when Kakashi felt like they were far from it? Kakashi shrugged; it wasn’t like he would ever know since he never dabbled in the administrative side of things until he became Hokage. </p>
<p>Maybe showing up three hours late today hadn’t been his brightest idea. A quick glance at the clock told him that it was nearing ten. At the rate he was going, Kakashi would be lucky if he made it out of there before two. </p>
<p>When the clock struck midnight, Kakashi let out a large yawn, blinking three times in quick succession to rid the blurriness in his eyes. The trick lasted him five minutes before his eyes became droopy again. With his left hand supporting his head, Kakashi made his way through a few more papers before he drifted off to sleep.</p>
<p>Only to jerk awake when his forehead collided with the surface of his desk. Kakashi leaned against the back of his seat, rubbing the bruised area of his forehead. The impact chased away the sleepiness and with a conscious mind, Kakashi finally noticed that he had messed up. </p>
<p>His signature wasn’t even on the line. If he was lucky, his name had been scrawled on the line before the end fell off. Others he had signed directly on the line. The worst one was when he missed the line altogether and signed on the white space quite a ways from the line. </p>
<p>His assistant would have his head tomorrow if he left it like that. </p>
<p>Kakashi pulled out the top drawer, rummaging through the contents for his bottle of white ink. Covering his mistake with white ink would undoubtedly leave a bumpy mark on the paper, but without the original file to make another copy, it was the best solution he had. </p>
<p>Except after searching through all the drawers in his desk, Kakashi couldn’t find a trace of the white ink. He could have sworn that he brought it to the Hokage office since he no longer had a need for it at home, but he hadn’t ever needed to use it since he became Hokage. Essentially, the bottle had been sitting around here somewhere for two years and now he couldn’t figure out where. </p>
<p>His eyes landed on the blue scroll sitting on his desk, recognizing it to be one of his commonly used storage scrolls. Kakashi couldn’t quite remember what he pulled it out for, but chances were that it was there. After all, he liked to shove a bunch of useless things in there until he needed it. </p>
<p>Kakashi quickly unravelled the scroll. If he had been a little less drowsy, spared the scroll more than a little glance, then he would have noticed that the seal was much larger than an average storage seal. But his brain was completely fried from the moon debacle, from having to form ten different back-up plans in less than an hour, come up with ten thousand reasons to convince the Raikage to not blow up the moon, and think of appropriate and reassuring responses each time one of his aides delivered bad news. </p>
<p>The palm of his hand slammed down on the scroll, pushing chakra through it. The seal lit up, but instead of a pile of junk appearing on his desk, the light grew brighter and brighter. It was only then did Kakashi realize that this wasn’t his storage scroll; it was the scroll that Sasuke had given to him earlier. </p>
<p>He scrambled to cancel the release, but it was too late. The light flashed brightly, engulfing him completely. The light dimmed, basking the office in darkness once more. </p>
<p>And he was gone.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Without bothering to wait for Kakashi’s answer - not that he planned to give one - Sasuke whirled around, brandishing his sword. Lightning crackled along the length of the sword. Pointing the tip of the sword towards Itachi, Sasuke certainly made a menacing sight especially with his mismatched red and purple eyes. </p>
<p>Somewhere to the left, Kakashi noted that Asuma and Kurenai had shifted, prepared to fight Sasuke. His older self intercepted, forcing them to stand down. Based on the fact that his younger self recognized Sasuke to not be a threat, Kakashi figured that he already put together the pieces. </p>
<p>Well that would make things easier when he inevitably demanded an explanation. </p>
<p>Kisame chortled. “What is this? An Uchiha reunion?” </p>
<p>Sasuke completely ignored Kisame’s comment. His eyes were still fixated on Itachi, choosing to address him instead. “If you don’t want any trouble, I suggest you leave and forget this ever happened.” </p>
<p>It’d been seven years since Sasuke was placed on his team and to this day, Kakashi still couldn’t figure out what he was thinking. When Sasuke was twelve, his fury and revenge seeking tendencies had been written all over his face, but since the end of the war, Sasuke had mellowed out. No expression was his default expression. </p>
<p>And if it hadn’t been for Sasuke’s drunken confession about how much he missed his brother, then Kakashi would have never known that this was considered an emotional reunion, by Sasuke’s standards. During his confession, Sasuke lamented about how much he regretted killing Itachi, how he if had given another chance to do over, he would have tried to save Itachi from condemnation. </p>
<p>So why was Sasuke telling Itachi to leave? This was his chance to change everything.</p>
<p>Itachi always had a sharp mind; he must have figured out what was going on or had a good idea of the severity of the situation. Exchanging a meaningful glance with Kisame, the pair made a move to leave. And would have left if it wasn’t for Kakashi’s intervention. </p>
<p>“Itachi, we all know the truth behind the Uchiha massacre! You don’t have to-” Sasuke moved at lightning speed, appearing behind him to clamp a hand over Kakashi’s mouth. Kakashi squirmed in his hold, cursing the fact that he was stuck in Sasuke’s weak twelve year old body. </p>
<p>“Shut up,” Sasuke hissed in his ear. Sensing that Sasuke wasn’t going to let go anytime soon, Kakashi emitted a small fire jutsu from his mouth. The intensity of the heat forced Sasuke to let go. Maybe the tactic was a little underhanded, but so was manhandling him. This may have been his body, but while Kakashi was in control, he was not about to let it happen. </p>
<p>It had been too late anyways. Although Kakashi’s words made Itachi halt for a few seconds, his former subordinate didn’t stick around to hear what he had to say. Kisame and Itachi were gone, having disappeared in a swirl of leaves. </p>
<p>“What the hell are you doing?” Anger laced his words. Typically, everyone steered clear of Sasuke when he was angry, but Kakashi was one of three people who didn’t give a fuck what mood he was in. He’d dealt with batshit crazy, revenge seeking, power crazed, murderous version of Sasuke; angry Sasuke was relatively tame in comparison. </p>
<p>“Don’t you want to change the outcome? You know once I leave your body, this Sasuke is going to go back to the revenge seeking psycho that he is and the fight with Itachi will happen all over again. We could have prevented that.” </p>
<p>The hilt of Sasuke’s sword jabbed into Kakashi’s chest, forcing him to take a step back for every jab. “You of all people should know how dangerous it is to mess with the flow of time.” </p>
<p>“But if it’s for the better?” Kakashi edged on. </p>
<p>“You can’t guarantee that it’ll be better, so it’s safer to not mess with anything.” </p>
<p>“How is it not better? You get to spend time with Itachi, you don’t end up consumed with hatred, Team 7 won’t break up and-” </p>
<p>“And I’ll be weak,” Sasuke finished. “Danzo will still be alive. I won’t be able to handle some of the threats. Maybe we’ll all end up dying during the war. Is that your definition of better? If I don’t want to change my own life, then what right do you, as an outsider, have to dictate my life?” </p>
<p>“You’re right, I’m selfish,” Kakashi admitted, all of his energy sapped from all the years he spent arguing with Sasuke. They never saw eye to eye on many things and this would just end up tacked onto the end of the long list of things they couldn’t agree on. They would move on and forget because neither was the type to hold grudges over trivial things, but Kakashi felt the innate urge to get the last word in. “Since the moment that you’ve been placed on my team, I knew that we were quite similar. I suffered. You suffered. I wallowed in guilt. You embarked on a never ending journey to atone for your sins. We both have too many regrets to count. </p>
<p>“Have you ever thought that maybe I just didn’t want to see you have to go through all of that again? That I felt useless the first time around that I wanted to make it up to you the second time? Maybe my actions won’t mean anything to you because this Sasuke I’m trying to help isn’t you, but you’re right. I am selfish. Doing this helps me ease some of my regrets so I can sleep better at night.” </p>
<p>In their dynamic as student and teacher, candid conversations were never part of it. The only semblance of such conversation was when Kakashi tied him to a tree and tried to beat it into his head that revenge wasn’t the answer. Of course that failed spectacularly. </p>
<p>Kakashi had always been terrible at expressing his true sentiments. The greatest lesson that he wished Sasuke took away from his teaching was the importance of teamwork, but it turned into learning Chidori, which he later used to try to kill said teammates. At the time when Sasuke seemed to be so far gone, Kakashi still held onto the hope that Sasuke wasn’t beyond saving, but he still gathered the resolve to end him. When Kakashi sent him off on the journey to atone for his sins, he wanted to assure him that it wasn’t entirely his fault and to not beat himself up too much over his past actions, but the words that came out of his mouth instead were to not cause anymore trouble. </p>
<p>This time, he finally got the words out. The delivery was less than desirable, but from the way Sasuke’s eyes softened just a tiny bit, Kakashi knew he had gotten the message. </p>
<p>“Let’s talk somewhere more private.” In the span of thirty seconds, Sasuke used his Sharingan on Kurenai and Asuma, knocking both jonins in a daze. His action was met with indignant cries from his younger self, but Sasuke didn’t bother to give him an explanation. Instead, he flash stepped across the river, grabbing both versions of Kakashi and whisked them away. </p>
<p>They landed on top of the Hokage monument. Sasuke released his arm, sending Kakashi stumbling a few steps forward before he could regain his footing. Much to his dismay, twenty-six year old Kakashi landed quite gracefully on his feet. How was it that he had been one-upped by his younger self? </p>
<p>Right, he was stuck in Sasuke’s twelve year old body which was as graceful as a mule. And people praised this kid for being good for his age? </p>
<p>Young Kakashi turned onto Sasuke immediately, demanding an explanation. “What did you do to Kurenai and Asuma?”</p>
<p>“I erased their memories. The less people that know about this incident the better. I’m sure you know why.” </p>
<p>“So…” Young Kakashi dragged out the word. He pointed a finger at Sasuke. “You’re Sasuke from the future.” The words came slow and deliberate, in a manner that suggested he was currently sorting out the jumbled thoughts in his head. He then turned to point at Kakashi - or rather, Sasuke’s twelve year old body. “And you’re not Sasuke. You’re just someone who is possessing Sasuke’s body.” </p>
<p>“I’m you from the future,” Kakashi informed his younger self, even though he knew that he already figured it out. He just wasn’t willing to say it out loud because that would seal the deal that either he had gone completely insane or he was willing to believe such an absurd situation could even occur. “Seven years to be exact. I’m thirty-three.” </p>
<p>He tacked on the last part out of pettiness. Even though this was himself, he needed to emphasize the fact that he was hardly a kid. He may look like one, he was as tall as one, and he had the status of one, but he was the oldest out of all of them. Imagine being a Hokage and still be patronized like he was a genin. From himself too. </p>
<p>Young Kakashi muttered a string of curses under his breath. “Well, that explains a lot of things.” </p>
<p>“Explains what?” </p>
<p>Young Kakashi glared at him, his hand waving in the general direction of his face. “Like why you covered up your left eye and stupidly forgot to turn on your Sharingan during the battle. Or why I caught you wearing a mask in your apartment.” </p>
<p>He did? Kakashi didn’t have the time to ponder on when Young Kakashi could have possibly seen him - it wasn’t his fault that his face felt strangely bare without the mask - as Young Kakashi continued to plow ahead. </p>
<p>“Your entire spiel about teamwork. I didn’t picture Sasuke as the type to care.” Here, Young Kakashi paused, sparing Sasuke a glance. “No offense to you, uh Sasuke.” </p>
<p>Sasuke didn’t seem to care, but Kakashi felt compelled to speak up for him. “In the beginning he didn’t care, but after being lost on the road of life, he eventually came around. Now Naruto is practically his best friend.” Kakashi pointedly ignored the piercing glare that drilled into the side of his head. </p>
<p>“Oh? Well, that’s good to know,” Young Kakashi responded hesitantly, not quite knowing what to say. “The worst part was when I found you reading Icha Icha. I seriously thought Fugaku would come back from the dead to kill me for influencing you.” </p>
<p>Oh so there was someone following him at the bookstore that day. He’d probably written off the signature because it had been his chakra signature. When an image of Sasuke reading Icha Icha flashed through his mind, Kakashi placed a hand over his mouth to stifle the laughter that threatened to spill over. </p>
<p>If Sasuke hadn’t been shooting murderous glares in his direction, Kakashi most certainly would have certainly bursted out laughing. Combined with the mental image of Sasuke reading Icha Icha, the mixture of disgust and horror that was currently present on adult Sasuke’s features made the image seem even more precious to Kakashi than it normally would have. It was the kind of thing that happened once in a lifetime and he was quite honored to be the one to witness it. </p>
<p>It would have been even better if Kakashi was able to witness Sasuke actually reading the book; this was the part where he envied Young Kakashi. Another thought appeared. Would Young Kakashi’s memories carry over to him when he returned to his own time? In that case, then he’ll actually have the memory…</p>
<p>His musings were interrupted by a very not amused Sasuke. </p>
<p>“What the hell have you been doing with my body?” Sasuke’s left eyebrow twitched uncontrollably, a sight that Kakashi hadn’t seen since Sasuke was a kid. </p>
<p>“Maa, don’t say it like that. You make me sound like Orochimaru. For the record, I didn’t willingly take over your body. And to answer your question, I did what you would have done. Go on missions, train, eat. Stuff like that.” </p>
<p>Okay, maybe not exactly, but Sasuke couldn’t blame him. It was hard to play the role of an edgy pre-teen that hated the entire world. He had long put those days behind him and Kakashi was not about to revisit that experience, even if it was for the sake of preserving a sense of normality. Not that he had been interested in keeping the timeline intact. If he did, then this was the point in time where Sasuke would get annihilated by his brother and start his quest for power. </p>
<p>Speaking of, Kakashi watched as his last comment captured Sasuke’s attention, causing his eyes to narrow in on the base of his neck. His neck, that was completely free of the snake-induced-cursed-seal. Sasuke better be thankful. </p>
<p>“Did you not run into Orochimaru?” </p>
<p>“Oh no, I did. Don’t worry, I took care of him.” By taking care of him, Kakashi meant he got some form of satisfaction and vengeance on his student’s behalf by slicing off his head and burning it to a crisp, despite knowing that Orochimaru had the ability to regenerate. Kakashi liked to think that the real reason why he didn’t end him was because he knew Orochimaru eventually found a soul, but in reality, Sasuke’s abysmal chakra levels wouldn’t have gotten the job done anyways. </p>
<p>Sasuke pinched the bridge of his nose, eyes shut like he was in pain. Probably from knowing that Kakashi had already messed up the timeline even without the Itachi debacle, but Kakashi was hardly sorry. At least he prevented Sasuke from receiving the cursed seal, one of the main sources that drove him to seek out Orochimaru. </p>
<p>This was where they would disagree on whether or not the change was a good thing, but whatever. </p>
<p>“Start from the beginning,” Sasuke grounded out, annoyance present in his voice. “Tell me everything that you’ve done.” </p>
<p>Well Sasuke asked for it...</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Hi again!</p>
<p>Hope the change in POV wasn't too confusing, doing my best to make sure you know which Kakashi is narrating. Original plan was to have the story end at meeting Itachi, but you know me, I got carried away with a semi-plotline so I guess you get another 4 chapters lol. As you know, next few will be a recount of Kakashi-as-Sasuke POV, but I do add new scenes and don't try to regurgitate the scenes in the previous chapters. That's boring to read and boring to write.</p>
<p>Thank you for reading and until next time!<br/>-MM</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Groaning, Kakashi rolled over to his left side, throwing an arm over his eyes to block the sunlight. His state of relaxation lasted only five minutes when his brain finally registered that there was sunlight. Light that wasn’t supposed to be there. </p>
<p>Kakashi’s eyes snapped open. Mechanically, his hand lifted the blanket off of his body while his legs swung down from the bed to find his slippers. Only the action hadn’t worked quite as well as he hoped because Kakashi found his legs dangling from the edge of the bed rather than planted on the floor. </p>
<p>Wait, what? Kakashi hadn’t had this problem since he hit his growth spurt when he had been fourteen. </p>
<p>Despite the strangeness of the situation, time pushed him to get moving. If he didn’t hurry, his aides would certainly show up banging on his door. Before that happened, he needed to slip away to the memorial stone, where no one would bother him out of respect. If he remained in his apartment, there was no chance to get them off of his back, considering he was pretty sure that he didn’t finish the paperwork yesterday. </p>
<p>Four steps on his way to the bathroom, Kakashi froze. Paperwork? His mind flashed through the events from last night, from the moon threat to heading back to his office to find Sasuke waiting for him, the paperwork, and then the scroll. </p>
<p>The scroll. He remembered activating the scroll before he realized that it was the scroll that Sasuke had given him, then a bright light consumed him. Kakashi assumed that the light knocked him out, but then why was he here? He should have woken up in the office. Unless…</p>
<p>Kakashi turned his head so quickly that he could have sworn he heard an audible crack. That was hardly the most pressing matter on his mind as his eyes swept the room up and down. Nondescript walls, a single window with navy blue curtains framing it, just like his room. However when Kakashi’s eyes landed on the bed and subsequently the blanket, the pattern of the quiltwork was completely wrong. It was plaid while his should have been shuriken-patterned, a gift from Gai. The dresser was pushed in the wrong direction, the doors should have opened facing away from the window. A desk was located right underneath the window sill, but it was ostensibly bare. Aside from three books propped up by a holder and a mug containing a couple of pens, there was nothing else. Kakashi could actually see the surface of the desk, which was a feat considering the amount of papers and folders that continually piled up. </p>
<p>This room looked vaguely familiar, but Kakashi couldn’t quite pinpoint where he had seen it before. The one thing that he was certain of was that this wasn’t his room; past or present. </p>
<p>His instincts kicked in. Kakashi left the room, exploring the entire kitchen and living room for any clues of his whereabouts. However, just like the room, the two areas were bare of everything but the essentials, so it appeared like it could be anyone’s home. </p>
<p>After concluding that he wasn’t going to find anything of importance, other than establishing that the owner of this place was a shinobi since he spotted a weapons pouch lying on the coffee table, Kakashi wandered to the bathroom. If he was going to spend the rest of his day trying to figure out where he was and what happened to him, the least he could do was get rid of the horrible taste in his mouth. </p>
<p>Flicking on the light in the bathroom while he kicked the door closed with his foot, Kakashi headed straight to the toilet. After flushing, he automatically moved to the sink and turned on the faucet. He raised his head, in his quest to search for some hand soap when he spotted his reflection in the mirror. </p>
<p>His jaw dropped. Or was it Sasuke’s jaw? He didn’t know; all he knew was that a young Sasuke Uchiha was staring right back at him. </p>
<p>Craning his head over his shoulders, Kakashi confirmed that there was no one behind him. It was stupid because he could see everything behind him in the mirror, but he still had to confirm it was real. Waving his hand at the mirror, Sasuke mimicked his action. Kakashi made a silly face, scrunching up his face while sticking his tongue outwards. In the mirror, Sasuke copied that movement, down to the exact detail. His fingers pinched the skin of his pale cheek, feeling nothing - oh maybe this was a dream - until he put more force behind it. </p>
<p>“Ow!” Kakashi cursed as he felt a tinge of sharp pain in his cheek. Leaning closer to the mirror, Sasuke did the same, Kakashi angled his head so he could better examine the injury. Two crescent shaped marks were left on his cheek as the area around it gradually turned red. </p>
<p>“Kami, what did I do in my past life to deserve this kind of torture?” Kakashi breathed out, while he banged his head - or was it Sasuke’s head? - against the mirror. There was no denying it; somehow, some way, Kakashi had ended up in his student’s body. Fate certainly had a twisted sense of humor. </p>
<p>It took him five minutes to get out of his stupor and start moving again. While he brushed his teeth, Kakashi started to run through all the facts in his head, taking care to not look in the mirror. He didn’t need to be weirded out anymore than he already was. </p>
<p>He had gone back in time, that much was clear. Now Kakashi needed to find out how far back he had gone. The Sasuke reflection looked similar to how Sasuke looked when he was first placed on his genin team, but the time frame still could have been anywhere from his later Academy years up to his defection. </p>
<p>At the brief thought of having to deal with the snake man again in this timeline, Kakashi shuddered. </p>
<p>The next thing he needed to confirm was whether or not he had actually gone back in time or if this was an alternate dimension. When Kakashi was younger, he had thrown the idea of an alternate dimension around with Minato sensei after having read a few theory scrolls on it, but to this day, no one could confirm the validity of it. Unlike most, he was quite open to believing the theory, but if this was indeed an alternate dimension, then things would be immensely complicated. </p>
<p>Never mind the fact that he didn’t know how to get back, Kakashi wouldn’t even know what to expect. At least if this was just the past, in the same dimension, he would have an inkling of what was coming based on his interaction with his student. </p>
<p>Kakashi groaned as another thought flitted to his mind. Did that mean he needed to act like Sasuke? How was he supposed to do that? Sasuke had been originally placed on his team because they were similar, but they weren’t that similar. </p>
<p>Whatever, that was a problem for later. For now, he needed to search for more clues so he would have a semblance of an idea of what he was supposed to be doing. </p>
<p>Kakashi headed back to the bedroom, pulling the closet door open. After pulling on white shorts and high collared blue shirt - it felt terribly wrong to wear a shirt with the Uchiha symbol stitched on the back, but Sasuke didn’t own anything else - the attire that Kakashi remembered Sasuke wearing in his youth, he was about to close the door when he spotted something shiny on the very top shelf. </p>
<p>Konoha’s hitai-ate. The plating was quite new and shiny, free of all the dents and scratches that appeared on his own, accumulated from his slew of missions. But Sasuke was a genin, so it made sense that it was still scratch-free. </p>
<p>At least he confirmed that Sasuke was no longer in the Academy. Great because Kakashi had no desire to attend the Academy if that was the case, there was a reason why he graduated in one year. At least this situation would give Kakashi a little more flexibility to move around. He would need it to find his way home. </p>
<p>Tying the forehead protector, Kakashi kicked the closet door shut while he backed away. Once he finished, he moved towards the desk, pulling open all the drawers in hopes that he could find something of use. </p>
<p>Bingo. A small calendar sat in the bottom drawer and Sasuke’s meticulous nature meant that he crossed off each day. Scrawled in yesterday’s box was a reminder that it was the day of the Academy exams. If yesterday was the exam, then today must be the day for team formation. Kakashi looked up, looking out of the window to judge the position of the sun. </p>
<p>He rolled his eyes. If he didn’t leave now, he would be “late.” Which wasn’t a horrible thing in his books, but Sasuke Uchiha was as punctual as a person could get. Fine, he would play along for now. At least until he could figure out exactly what was going on. </p>
<p>As Kakashi sat in his assigned seat, or maybe it was the wrong seat but no one dared to question Sasuke Uchiha, he lamented how awful it was to be the one doing the waiting, rather being the one waited on. Looking out the window helped to dispel some of his irritation, but every now and then, high-pitched screams would disrupt his serenity. </p>
<p>Were all Academy girls this loud? Previously, Kakashi thought Naruto and Sakura were already loud enough, but it seemed that their volume was nothing in comparison to this. Out of the corner of his eye, Kakashi subtly eyed the group of girls. Among them, he recognized Sakura and Ino, the two that were responsible for the incoming headache. </p>
<p>As much as he appreciated these two in the future, one for their medical skills and the other for their interrogation techniques, Kakashi just wished they could shut up. And stop screaming Sasuke’s name. </p>
<p>The situation went from extremely annoying to downright insanely-horrible-to-the-point-where-he-wanted-to-bolt when Naruto appeared in the picture. He was louder than all of the girls combined, claiming that there was nothing special about Sasuke. Then he proceeded to jump on the table, walk over to him before he squatted right in front of him so he was eye level with him. Kakashi unconsciously leaned backwards. He loved his student and all, but only when he was at least three feet away from him. </p>
<p>Naruto squinted at him, eyeing him with such intensity. </p>
<p>“Get out of my face.” That was something Sasuke would say, right? Instead of moving away, Naruto leaned even closer. Kakashi sank down in his seat and began to subtly scoot across the bench. </p>
<p>Suddenly, Naruto lost his balance falling forward. Kakashi’s eyes widened, his brain going haywire as he tried to move, but Sasuke's body couldn’t quite keep up his thoughts. The most that he could do was turn his head. A cold, horrible feeling went down his spine when he felt Naruto’s lips on his left cheek. </p>
<p>His bare left cheek. Kakashi resisted the urge to throw up, desperately trying to swallow the bile back down his throat. Naruto recovered from the fall, flailing his arms about as he screamed about what had just happened. </p>
<p>Kakashi was frozen in shock. This was his twelve year old student. He barely even hugged the kid before; the most he felt comfortable with doing was a head pat. </p>
<p>His feeling of disgust subsided as another thought came to mind. If Sasuke’s body was too slow to avoid it and his twelve year old mind wasn’t as sharp as his, did that mean that the two actually kissed? At the thought, Kakashi couldn’t but snicker. His hand half covered his mouth to hide it; everyone knew that Sasuke Uchiha didn’t have a sense of humor. Luckily, most of the girls were too busy chasing down Naruto to pay attention to him and the boys simply didn’t care. </p>
<p>He filed a mental note to ask Sasuke about it later. </p>
<p>They were the last team in the classroom. Even Iruka had already left, leaving the three of them to their own devices. Following the announcement of teams, Kakashi had chosen to take a nap instead, knowing that his younger self wasn’t going to show for at least another three hours to collect them. He remembered when it happened the first time around; Kakashi had actually forgotten about the three kiddos. </p>
<p>At least they never found out, otherwise, they would have given him so much grief for it. </p>
<p>Naruto couldn’t sit still. He wandered around the classroom, twice, poking and prodding everything in existence. He even looked under the tables to find some messages and drawings left by former students. Everything he found particularly interesting, he would point and say it out loud, as if either of them cared. </p>
<p>At least Sakura was polite about it, she actually responded to him, even if her remarks were a tad bit cruel, while Kakashi ignored him altogether. Ignoring people had been a skill he acquired over the years, no thanks to Obito, Gai, and Naruto. </p>
<p>Near the third hour and for the twentieth time, Naruto groaned about how late their “stupid” sensei was. If Kakashi wasn’t supposed to be Sasuke at the moment, he would have feigned mock hurt. Instead, he kept quiet as he watched Naruto start moving around the room again. </p>
<p>His eyes landed on the blackboard eraser, darting back and forth between the door and the eraser. In the process, his grin grew wider and wider and remained plastered on his face even as Naruto went to fetch the eraser. </p>
<p>“Naruto, what are you doing?” Sakura asked tiredly. </p>
<p>“Hehe. I’m going to teach Sensei a lesson for being late.” Naruto was in the process of clambering on a chair that he set by the door, ready to jam it in the crook between the door and wall. </p>
<p>Ahhh, so that was how this blackboard eraser prank happened the first time. </p>
<p>“He’s a jonin. He’s not going to fall for that, baka,” Sakura insisted. </p>
<p><em> Oh yes he will. </em>Kakashi had to turn his head away from his students to hide the smirk that broke out on his face. As a bystander, the incident would surely be more humorous than it was the first time around and well, if it was going to happen, Kakashi might as well enjoy the show. </p>
<p>Propping his elbows on the table and clasping his hands together, Kakashi hid the smirk behind his hands as he felt his counterpart approaching. Three...two...one.</p>
<p>The eraser whacked the top of his head, sending chalk dust flying everywhere. The color of the dust was almost the same shade as his hair, so it seemed like nothing happened at all, if not for the eraser that bounced against the floorboard. </p>
<p>Naruto bursted out laughing. Kakashi remembered this, his first introduction of exactly how loud Naruto could be. Kakashi watched as his counterpart - he should really just call him Sensei even though Sasuke never referred to him as Kakashi sensei in his life - eyed Naruto, then flickered over to Sakura, then landed on him. </p>
<p>Oh shit. He had forgotten how Sasuke reacted the first time, but if he had to guess, Sasuke probably remained his stoic self. Kakashi struggled to rearrange his features into a neutral expression just in time as Kakashi sensei’s eyes fell onto him. The only thing he really couldn’t hide in time was the damn smirk. </p>
<p>Oh well.</p>
<p>“My first impression of you guys...is that I don’t like you. Meet me at the rooftops.” </p>
<p>During the climb to the rooftops, Kakashi found that he hated being a genin again. He could have saved himself so much trouble and effort if he was allowed to teleport to the rooftops, but of course, Sasuke Uchiha wouldn’t know how to do such a thing. Kakashi had a feeling that the longer he spent in this body, the more he was going to hate Sasuke. It seemed Sasuke's sole purpose for existing was to make him suffer, from all the trouble he caused as his student to this. </p>
<p>Kakashi zoned off while introductions happened, until it was his turn. Only then did it hit him that he was expected to give an introduction. A Sasuke Uchiha kind of introduction. The only things that he could recall was something about liking training and wanting to kill Itachi, and despite the fact that he was supposed to keep up the appearance, there was no way that he could express his revenge seeking sentiment. </p>
<p>No way those words were coming out of his mouth, so Kakashi modified it. Only he didn’t expect the stuff to come out to be a description of himself. </p>
<p>“I like to train and learn new jutsus. I dislike people who abandon their comrades. My hobbies are to read -” Kakashi caught himself just in time before the words Icha Icha spilled from his lips. “Books. My dream is to become strong enough to protect my friends.” </p>
<p>Whatever. This version of Sasuke would just have to be painted as a team player and someone who valued “good literature.” And besides, Kakashi believed that Sasuke should be thankful; this version is such an upgrade from the previous one. </p>
<p>But when Kakashi sensei’s suspicious gaze fell onto him, Kakashi wondered if it had been a mistake. If he kept up his lousy acting, it wouldn’t be long before his counterpart figured something was up. </p>
<p>It was too late to take back the words, so Kakashi had no choice but to roll with it.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Among the one thousand jutsus that Kakashi was famously known for having, a small portion of those were what he deemed to be “prank jutsus.” Thousand Years of Death and Earth Style: Headhunter Jutsu were two of such jutsus and he recalled using both during the bell test. The former had been used on Naruto and Kakashi had gotten such a kick at watching Kakashi sensei perform that jutsu on him that he couldn’t help but chuckle at the scene. </p>
<p>(Later he heard from Pakkun that Naruto used the same jutsu in his fight against Shukaku and he couldn’t help but feel proud at his student’s ingenuity and the legacy that his prank jutsu would carry on.) </p>
<p>But when the show ended with Naruto falling into the water, Kakashi knew that he had to get going. If his memory served him correctly, Kakashi sensei would go after Sakura first, who would only last five seconds, and then he would be next. Best to get moving, lest he became the victim to another prank jutsu. </p>
<p>Kakashi sensei was dead set on finding him. Since he was going up against himself, Kakashi had enough knowledge to hide so that he couldn’t be found, but he didn’t think that Sasuke was the hiding type. Reluctantly, he showed himself and fought. </p>
<p>He used the term <em> fought </em>loosely because all he did was perform a fireball jutsu and then danced out of the way of the incoming headhunter jutsu. As much as he enjoyed the prank jutsus, Kakashi did not fancy becoming one of the victims, even if Sasuke had been one of the original ones. </p>
<p>Knowing that the alarm was going to ring soon, Kakashi sprinted back to the clearing, where he knew there would be three bentos waiting for him. There was no way he could win against Kakashi sensei anyways; a quick training session yesterday evening proved how horrible he was with fighting in a twelve year old body. </p>
<p>Plus, Sasuke’s body was just weak. He didn’t know what Orochimaru ever saw in him. </p>
<p>He was greeted by the sight of Naruto and Sakura already eating the bentos. On one hand, Kakashi was slightly affronted that they had chosen to eat with him; he was their superior and for once, he could actually eat with them without fearing they would see his true face. On the other hand, a warm, fuzzy feeling appeared in his chest. He knew that they would become close in the future, but it was nice to see them start earlier than they had last time. </p>
<p>If he had known that all Sakura needed to appreciate teamwork was to hear the words come out of Sasuke’s mouth, he would have transformed into him a long time ago. </p>
<p>Kakashi was waiting for Kakashi sensei to drop the bomb that they had passed; this was good enough for his standards, but when he heard that they would need to continue the exercise after lunch, Kakashi mentally groaned. </p>
<p>Why was it so like him torture them even more? Doing the torturing had always been fun, but now being the side of being tortured, Kakashi was less than amused. Must have been karma biting him in the ass. </p>
<p>Him and his big mouth. He should have never tried to challenge himself. </p>
<p>At least the second exercise hadn’t been a total waste. Beyond furthering their teamwork, Kakashi was quickly finding out that he was hardly adept with fighting with both eyes. After the war, Kakashi tried to train himself back to using both eyes, but more often than not, he would always find himself closing his left eye out of habit. Not long after that, he became Hokage and hadn’t gone on missions since. </p>
<p>In short, he spent his prime fighting with one eye. Trying to fight with two messed up his depth perception and add to the fact that he always overestimated the length of his limbs, his taijutsu was a hot mess. </p>
<p>Only time could fix that and he desperately needed to hurry the process before he accidentally got Sasuke prematurely killed because of his incompetence. Kakashi was eager to get started after Kakashi sensei announced they passed. He didn’t expect anything different; Kakashi sensei just found joy in making their lives more difficult than it had to be. He would know. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, Sakura caught up with him before Kakashi could slip away. Planting a neutral smile on his face - when he really wanted to scowl - because Sakura was his student and she saved his life countless times before, Kakashi turned to return her greeting. It would be incredibly rude to ignore her, but it seemed like something that Sasuke would do, so maybe he could pull it off. </p>
<p>Sakura walked to stand beside him, hands reaching to automatically latch onto his arm as compliments about his performance during the bell test slipped from her mouth. Kakashi discreetly tried to pry her arm off. She didn’t get the hint, so he was forced to use some strength to pry her fingers off. </p>
<p>Kami, even at this age, Sakura had such incredible strength. </p>
<p>Kakashi nodded, pretending like he actually had been listening all along. “Uh thanks.” Immediately, he regretted saying that when he practically saw stars shining in Sakura’s eyes. Right, how could he have forgotten he had never heard Sasuke utter a thanks, not even after he taught him the Chidori or pardoned him from his war crimes. </p>
<p>That ungrateful brat. </p>
<p>“Sasuke kun! Do you want to go get dinner together? There’s a new barbeque place that opened and I heard it’s really good.” </p>
<p>“Hn.” Okay, maybe Kakashi could pull off a Sasuke. </p>
<p>“Is that a yes?” Sakura practically screeched in his ear. Kakashi took that back; he was not good at portraying Sasuke. At all. </p>
<p>“No. Go away.” His words lacked the harshness that Sasuke usually had, so Sakura was hardly deterred. Instead, she continued to badger him about going on a date, while Kakashi felt the increasing urge to just crawl in a hole and stay there forever. </p>
<p>This was getting too much for him. </p>
<p>“No. I need to train,” Kakashi tried again. </p>
<p>Sakura clapped her hands together in excitement. “We can train together! You were so cool fighting against Sensei today! Can you teach me some moves?” </p>
<p>Kakashi almost found himself saying yes. In the long run, it would be beneficial if Sakura could be more than just a body shield for their clients, but that was Kakashi-as-a-sensei persona that was talking. Kakashi-as-Sasuke would want nothing more than for Sakura to go away. </p>
<p>“No. You’re too weak.” </p>
<p>That had done the trick. The transformation was immediate; Sakura had quieted down and stopped following him. Making sure that Sakura didn’t see him, Kakashi quickly glanced over his shoulder to register her downcasted expression. Guilt welled up within him and Kakashi almost found himself apologizing, but knew that it would be better for both of them if he didn’t. </p>
<p>After all, he was certain that Sakura would flip if she knew that she had been flirting with a thirty-three year old man. Someone who was her sensei at that. He wasn’t fond of being constantly hit on by twelve year old girls. It rivalled the feeling of disgust he felt with the Naruto incident, only it was slightly more tolerable only because he had known Sakura always had a crush on Sasuke. </p>
<p>Scratch that, he was still pretty grossed out. </p>
<p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Hi again!</p>
<p>Now it's time for the reveal of what was going on through Hokage Kakashi's head during this time. :) Hope that it's not too confusing to read. Kakashi sensei belongs to this world and just Kakashi is Hokage who time travelled into Sasuke's body.</p>
<p>Feel free to share what your favorite scene(s) are or the ones that made you laugh the most!</p>
<p>Thank you for reading. Until next time!<br/>-MM</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The more he trained, the more Kakashi hated being in Sasuke's body. Nevermind the obvious fact that his limbs and height were all shorter than what Kakashi was used to, but why did Sasuke have to have two functioning eyes? It annoyed him to no end the struggle he had with keeping his left eye open during training. Functioning with two eyes during his daily activities was fine, Kakashi learned to start reading with both eyes again during his stint as Hokage, but training was another story.</p>
<p>He fought exactly like a genin, clumsy and slow, with too many openings for his opponent to take advantage of. Granted, his opponents were Naruto and Sakura, both which failed to take note of his openings but Kakashi noticed. The perfectionist in him couldn't allow that to slide, even if he was supposed to be a genin.</p>
<p>Before and after team training, Kakashi found himself at Training Ground 37. The training ground was covered in dense forestry, located on the very outskirts of the village. Far and environment that was hardly ideal for training, the training ground was often abandoned. Very few ventured out here; in the years that Kakashi used this training ground, he had only run into one other person: an Anbu who happened to be on patrol duty.</p>
<p>No one would find him here, which was perfect because Kakashi didn't need to raise any suspicions if someone saw him using jutsus that he wasn't supposed to know. A genin using all five changes in chakra natures? Practically unheard of. It didn't matter anyways; Kakashi was quick to find out that Sasuke's body was only adept fire and lightning jutsus. Earth was barely manageable, which sucked because earth jutsus were his go to after lightning. Water and wind were completely out of question. Trying to utilize those jutsu types while he was stuck in this body made a once deadly jutsu completely harmless.</p>
<p>Despite coming from a clan that was famously known for their genjutsu prowess, Sasuke's genjutsu skills were complete garbage. Kakashi supposed that he could have trained this body to be accustomed to using genjutsu, but that was too much effort for no reason. He could get by without it anyways.</p>
<p>Taijutsu was the source of all his frustrations. A week into his personal training, Kakashi had finally learned to overcompensate his blows in order to make up for his shorter limbs. However, despite fixing that one problem, a slew of other issues followed. Beyond the obvious problem regarding his field of vision, Sasuke's body lacked stamina, flexibility, strength, and well, just about everything.</p>
<p>Was this what being a genin felt like? If so, Kakashi was so glad that he skipped out on a large majority of this phase. Sasuke's current level felt like the equivalent of his six year old self.</p>
<p>To be fair, Sasuke's level was considered pretty good for a genin. If he ended up in Naruto or Sakura's bodies, it would have been ten times worse. But "pretty good as a genin" felt absolutely miserable for a three decade old shinobi.</p>
<p>The frustration continued to build as Kakashi engaged in a sparring match with his clone. His one eyed clone. Since the clone was made with Sasuke's chakra, its speed and reflexes were roughly the same level as his. Yet, there was one distinction between the clone and him that resulted in him eating dirt every time.</p>
<p>The clone's vision wasn't screwed up like his. Every single time, the clone got a punch in on his left side. When his left eye was closed, everything that was happening on the left seemed much further away but now with his left eye opened - and he registered the hit coming - Kakashi was always duped into thinking that the fist was still far away.</p>
<p>It wasn't. The bruises that marred the left side of his cheek was proof of that.</p>
<p>After being sent sprawling into the dirt for what seemed like the twentieth time, Kakashi yanked down Sasuke's headband to cover his left eye. The change was immediate; Kakashi finally got to be on offensive rather than stuck trying to ward off the clone's attack. It was an exhilarating feeling so much to the point when Kakashi whacked his first clone out of existence, he immediately formed another one.</p>
<p>Never had he thought beating something up could be so fun. And he never knew how much he needed this beating-himself-up session until he did it. For the first time since he woke up as Sasuke, Kakashi finally had an outlet for all his pent up frustration.</p>
<p>Forget trying to act like Sasuke; Kakashi knew that was virtually impossible. Even if he put forth his best effort, it would still result in a lackluster imitation of it. From now on, Kakashi resolved to do things his way.</p>
<p>Even if it would freak out his counterpart when he showed up to training covering his left eye, then so be it.</p>
<hr/>
<p>The Land of Waves mission was their very first mission outside of the village. Personally, Kakashi couldn't be bothered to remember the details of every single mission; he had completed over a thousand so that was hardly a practical use of memory space. However this particular mission had been quite memorable, since it had been a simple escort mission that had the potential to end very badly, but didn't.</p>
<p>It also marked the first time that they had shown some real teamwork in battle. And the first time that Naruto leaked Kyuubi chakra. And the first time Sasuke used his Sharingan in battle.</p>
<p>Remembering the details of the mission would finally come in handy. At least he could prevent his students from getting too injured this time around.</p>
<p>Currently, he was flopped on his bed, extremely conscious of how much time he had until Kakashi sensei would show up at the front gates. Since they were responsible for a client, Kakashi wouldn't get the usual three hours to loiter around. Even he had some semblance of respect for civilians, so he only had thirty minutes to pack and make it to the front gates.</p>
<p>Any shinobi worth a salt would already have an emergency bag that was already packed, sitting somewhere. Kakashi's bag had always been stashed in the very back of his closet, coming in handy on countless occasions while he had been in the Anbu. The selfish part of him hoped that Sasuke would have packed such a bag because Kakashi hated packing, but of course, there was no bag.</p>
<p>He had to keep reminding himself that Sasuke was a genin and that this was their first mission outside of the village, so it was perfectly normal that there wouldn't be an emergency bag lying around. Maybe he had been foolish to hope but it was worth a shot.</p>
<p>Sighing, Kakashi finally pushed himself off of the bed, clambering over to the closet. Yanking the doors open, he grabbed the first empty backpack he saw and began to stuff clothes in it before moving on to the bathroom to fetch a first aid kit and other supplies that genins wouldn't normally think of to bring.</p>
<p>The team leader would usually be the one responsible for these kinds of things, and he knew that Kakashi sensei would certainly bring some, but knowing the circumstances behind this mission, Kakashi took care to stuff a few extra rolls of bandages.</p>
<p>Who knew what kind of stunt Naruto would pull this time? Last time, he had stabbed a kunai through his hand. Kakashi could only hope nothing equally as dramatic would happen again, but there was never a dull moment with Team Seven.</p>
<p>He couldn't figure out whether or not that was supposed to be a good thing.</p>
<p>Kakashi left the apartment, left foot already perched on the railing as he readied himself to climb to the rooftops. Only to see his reflection on his neighbor's window, showing the dark mask that covered the bottom half of his face.</p>
<p>He'd worn the mask for so long that it felt like a second layer of skin to him. More often than not, he would hardly even be conscious of it until he tried to eat or drink something and found a barrier to his mouth. Without it, his face felt surprisingly naked and it was a very uncomfortable experience. However, if he showed up to the team meeting with it on, chaos would definitely ensue.</p>
<p>It would be too troublesome to deal with. Reluctantly, Kakashi peeled off his mask, hating the way the wind bit his face, and stuffed it into his pocket. Then he took off, consciously aware that he was exactly twenty-two minutes late.</p>
<p>The first part of the mission proceeded exactly as he remembered. The puddle on the ground despite not having rained in a few days, the Demon Brothers appearing, and Kakashi sensei pretending to be butchered. Kakashi instantly leapt into action, making it just in time to ward off the one that went towards their client. Like last time, Sakura was frozen stiff. As much as Kakashi would have liked to help Naruto, so that he could avoid another stab-myself-with-a-kunai-to-show-my-resolve fiasco, it was either protecting the client or saving Naruto from a cut.</p>
<p>Kakashi chose the client and made sure he looked away while Naruto went on his tirade about how he was completely fine and that they didn't need to go back to the village. Logically, they should have headed back to the village, injured or not, but maybe Kakashi had grown a heart by this point in time.</p>
<p>That was what he would like to think of as the reason why he decided to complete this mission. Maybe it was the fact that he could hear Obito's nagging voice inside his head too.</p>
<p>The first fight with Zabuza came. After ducking to avoid being sliced by the Executioner Blade, Kakashi was the first to take his position to form the triangle formation around Tazuna. As much as he would have liked to fight Zabuza, since he knew exactly how it was all going to play out, but without the Sharingan, he couldn't see a thing.</p>
<p>And so he had to stand by as he watched the sequence of events play out once more. Water clones from both sides tried to one up each other, but in the end, Kakashi sensei got caught off guard and decided to escape into the water.</p>
<p><em>Baka. </em>Kakashi couldn't help but roll his eyes. Why did he ever think that was a good idea? Especially against a shinobi that specialized in water jutsus?</p>
<p>Trapped in Zabuza's water prison, Kakashi sensei yelled at them to run. Once again, Kakashi lamented how stupid he'd been. Sure, he had done it with good intentions since he didn't fancy seeing another comrade die, but why did he tell Team Seven to do the opposite of what he preached? Luckily, Team Seven hadn't taken his command seriously.</p>
<p>While Naruto charged at Zabuza, going at him again and again with his clones, Kakashi assisted enough to make sure that his student didn't get killed while his analytical mind went into overdrive to form a plan to free their sensei. Vaguely, he recalled that shurikens had been involved the first time, but he didn't have Sasuke's brain so that wasn't the strategy that came to mind.</p>
<p>Chidori the Zabuza water clone? No, that was too obvious.</p>
<p>Headhunter jutsu? Kakashi didn't know if Sasuke's body could pull off an earth style jutsu in the heat of a battle.</p>
<p>His thoughts were interrupted as Zabuza's clone swung the blade at him. Kakashi ducked just in a nick of time, sliding between his legs and rolling back to his feet. By the time the clone whirled around, a kunai was raised to block the sword.</p>
<p>Somewhere behind him, Naruto was in the process of getting back on his feet, after having been battered as a result of multiple failed attempts. A surge of pride washed over him as Kakashi stuck his foot out, making sure to reach further than he normally would have, and attempt to hook it around Zabuza. It would have succeeded if the clone hadn't jumped away, fingers flying through a water jutsu. Kakashi countered with a fire jutsu, sending evaporation mist spewing into the air as the two jutsus collided.</p>
<p>While the clone's absence had given Naruto an opening to attack the real body, it also was Zabuza's chance at the client. Knowing that Sakura's skills would hardly be enough to ward him off at this point in time, Kakashi flashed to Tazuna. His sudden appearance earned a surprise yelp from the man, but a small scare was getting off lightly compared to what could have happened.</p>
<p>Without caring that Tazuna and Sakura were watching him, Kakashi quickly ended the clone by running a Chidori stream through him. He was reduced to nothing but a mere puddle.</p>
<p>Zabuza had formed another water clone to ward off Naruto. When Kakashi appeared into view, Zabuza's eyes landed on him, lips curling up into an amused smile.</p>
<p>Taking advantage of the chaos caused by Naruto's clones, Kakashi jumped into the fray, transforming himself as a clone. For a brief moment, his gaze met Naruto's. The real Naruto. Then he jumped on Zabuza's neck, kunai poised to stab him in the neck when Zabuza flung the crew of Naruto clones into the air. One by one, they began to poof out of existence from the impact.</p>
<p>Kakashi sailed over the real Zabuza's head, but the nin didn't pay him any mind, thinking that he was going to disappear in a moment. But when the telltale sound of Kakashi's feet landed on the water, Zabuza's head turned. Pulling out three shurikens, Kakashi aimed them at Zabuza's outstretched arm.</p>
<p>They were easily deflected by the flat edge of the blade. As the shurikens plummeted down into the water, the transformation happened. All Zabuza could register was a flash of yellow and orange before Naruto punched him squarely in the jaw. The impact sent Zabuza stumbling backwards, releasing the water prison. Naruto fell into the water; Kakashi had forgotten he didn't know how to water walk at this point in time.</p>
<p>While Kakashi sensei dealt with Zabuza, Kakashi snatched Naruto from the water and hauled him back onto land while two water dragons jutsus clashed with each other, sending a spray of droplets everywhere.</p>
<p>The battle ended shortly, with the entire area flooded and Zabuza declared as "dead" after a Mist Hunter nin interfered. Kakashi contemplated challenging Zabuza's fake death, but a glance at a trembling Sakura, battered Naruto, and weary Kakashi sensei, Kakashi decided that they wouldn't be able to take down both of them.</p>
<p>Kakashi didn't say a thing as he watched Haku take Zabuza away. Then he turned, ready to follow Tazuna to his house, when he heard a loud thump.</p>
<p>"Kakashi sensei!" Sakura shouted, completely horrified. Immediately, she ran over to him, squatting beside him as she checked for a pulse. "He passed out."</p>
<p>Kakashi resisted the urge to shake his head. Maybe he had spoken too soon when he judged Sasuke's stamina level. His stamina wasn't any better.</p>
<p>Imagine that. A renowned S ranked jonin of Konoha's greatest enemy was chakra exhaustion.</p>
<p>If Obito was here to see this, he would laugh in his face.</p>
<hr/>
<p>He wasted his entire morning at Konoha's Library. Kakashi had gone into the library with intentions of finding more information on time travel time; the longer he stayed in this world, the more convinced that this wasn't an alternate dimension. If it was, then everything was strangely...normal.</p>
<p>Except the Konoha librarians were being exceedly difficult and Kakashi couldn't understand why. In the past, most were polite; sometimes even too helpful for Kakashi's tastes. However today, instead of making small talk with the librarians, Kakashi found himself in an argument with one. From that point on, the incident unravelled into a complete disaster because all three librarians decided to gang up on him.</p>
<p>Apparently none of them had the sense to see that their colleague had been clearly in the wrong.</p>
<p>"What do you mean I'm not allowed?" Kakashi asked, the volume of his voice rising with each word. At least a perk of being in Sasuke's body was that he didn't have to care about his appearance; he wasn't ruining his own anyways.</p>
<p>"You're just a kid," the blonde lady practically sneered at him. She bent forward slightly, pushing her glasses up to the bridge of her nose while she gazed at him in a patronizing manner.</p>
<p>Kakashi crossed his arm over his chest. "I'm a jo-shinobi of Konoha! What do you mean I'm not an adult?" Damn, Kakashi almost slipped up. If he called himself a jonin, the librarian would certainly have a field day with that comment. She'd probably make fun of him for being delusional.</p>
<p>The blondie rolled her eyes. "A mere genin. You're just a kid who wants to pretend to be an adult." Her hand reached out, the same way that Kakashi's did when he reached to pat his students on their heads. Before her hand could make contact with the top of his head, Kakashi ducked out of her reach, glaring at her.</p>
<p>Apparently, she was immune to Sasuke Uchiha's infamous glare.</p>
<p>"All you do is go on D ranked missions. If that's the only criteria to being an adult, everyone could easily be considered one!" She threw up her hands in the air, as if to prove a point. "The fact that you're arguing with me proves that you have an emotional immaturity of a kid."</p>
<p>A childish retort had been at the tip of his tongue, but Kakashi refrained from saying it. The retort would only prove her point after all and that wouldn't help his case.</p>
<p>"The last mission I was on was C ranked that got upgraded to an A ranked mission after we found that a S class missing ninja was after our client," Kakashi recited monotonously, the same way he would deliver his mission reports. "Zabuza Momochi. Bingo Book missing nin. You can look him up."</p>
<p>Blondie waved him off. Of course, even the most infamous shinobis wouldn't mean a thing to a civilian. At most, they would only be familiar with Konoha's shinobis. If only Kakashi had his Copy Ninja reputation to back him up, he wouldn't even be here in the first place.</p>
<p>"I don't really care. Now, you can either go over there-" Blondie waved in the general direction of the civilian literature section. "Or you can go to the genin section. That's all. There's no way you're getting into the chunin and jonin sections."</p>
<p>Each section of the library was sealed based on seniority. Upon graduation, genins were taught the simple seal needed to break the genin section of the library. After receiving chunin and jonin promotions, each shinobi would be taught the respective sealing sequence to undo the restriction; each level more complicated than the rest. He remembered getting in trouble once when he was a chunin, since no one believed a six year old could be a chunin, but luckily, he had Minato sensei to back him up that time.</p>
<p>Kakashi didn't mean to make this a huge deal; he planned on sneaking to the jonin section of the library, knowing that the seals wouldn't be a problem at all. However, Blondie seemed to have hawk-like vision and zeroed in on him before he could even take a step into the chunin section.</p>
<p>It was like the librarians were out to get him. And maybe they were, considering Sasuke's less than stellar reputation.</p>
<p>"This is ridiculous. You should encourage people to seek out more knowledge, not restrict it." The stupid restrictions had been one of the first things that Kakashi had gotten rid of when he took the hat. "And this is why libraries are outdated with the Internet now," Kakashi muttered under his breath.</p>
<p>"Excuse me? Did you say that libraries are outdated?" Blondie questioned. The insult was clearly written all over her face. That comment had gotten the attention of the other two librarians, who seemed to decide that it was time for them to intervene.</p>
<p>No, it wasn't time for them to intervene. It was time for them to go away and leave him alone. Kakashi had no such luck as Blondie went into a tirade of the history of Konoha's library and of its glory and greatness.</p>
<p>Basically all the things that Kakashi didn't bother to learn in the Academy. Besides, he was pretty sure most of the things coming out of her mouth were an exaggeration anyways.</p>
<p>That had done the trick though. With Blondie leading the lecture and the other two chiming in every now and then, Kakashi finally had enough. If he wasn't going to be able to get access to the restricted section, then he would have no choice to leave.</p>
<p>As he stepped outside, Kakashi could have sworn the librarians badmouthed him behind his back. He sighed; what else was new? The reasonable thing to do was to transform into a nondescript looking adult jonin figure and walk back in, but just thinking about dealing with the librarian's bitchiness made him feel annoyed all over again. Instead, Kakashi found himself storming down the street, intent on heading to a training field so he could release his pent up anger.</p>
<p>Maybe Blondie did have a point; he was certainly acting like a kid right now, but it was hard not to when he was used to not being questioned. When he was used to being treated like an adult and to suddenly revert back to encountering such condescending attitude from all the civilians, it grated on his nerves.</p>
<p>Damn, Kakashi could have sworn that some of Sasuke's emotions were influencing him because he hadn't been this easy to anger, frustrate, or annoy since he was fourteen years old. Feeling emotions like this was very...annoying, for a lack of a better term.</p>
<p>The further away he was from the library, the more his anger subsided to the point where his usual calmness returned before he even left the village square. Without the adrenaline fueling him, Kakashi no longer felt the desire to head towards the training grounds. He spun on his heels, veering off to his left in the direction of Sasuke's apartment.</p>
<p>On his way there, a bookstore caught his eye. The name was familiar, one that a fellow shinobi had recommended to him once but he never felt the need to come. What did Tenzo say about this particular store? Something about it being famous for having more obscure works?</p>
<p>His interest piqued. Maybe there will be something about time travel here! Kakashi darted into the store with extra fervor in his step.</p>
<p>Kakashi wandered up and down the aisle, occasionally stopping to pluck a book off of the shelf if the title caught his eye. None of the ones he flipped through were about time travel, just simply topics that he found interesting. Making a mental note to come back again when he was in his own body, Kakashi moved on. Hopefully this store still existed in his own time.</p>
<p>He lost track of time. He was so enamoured by these books - it wasn't his fault he never had time to sit down and read anymore since he became Hokage - that his quest for information on time travelling had been pushed to the back of his mind. For once, Kakashi didn't mind that he was seemingly "wasting time." It had been a long time since he could have time to himself.</p>
<p>Note to self: stop being a workaholic when he got back. Sure that was the lifestyle he had grown up with, but damn, Kakashi really needed to start setting boundaries for himself.</p>
<p>The sun had just begun to set when Kakashi finally wandered into the last aisle. Finally aware of the time, Kakashi proceeded to skim through the contents on the last shelf. Although his fingers itched to pull some of the books off of the shelves, the bookstore would be closing in approximately twenty minutes. Those twenty minutes needed to be devoted to his actual mission at hand.</p>
<p>Just as Kakashi made the resolve to not touch anything that wasn't related to time travel, he broke it when his eyes landed on a familiar orange cover.</p>
<p>
  <em>Icha Icha Paradise.</em>
</p>
<p>There wasn't an ounce of hesitation as Kakashi leaned forward, standing on his tiptoes. Fingers curling around the spine of the book, Kakashi yanked it down from the shelf and immediately flipped through the book to one of his favorite scenes.</p>
<p>How he missed reading this book. Since the day he woke up as Sasuke, Kakashi never had the chance to read this book, much less get his hands on it and he could have sworn that he was suffering from withdrawal sometimes. It was a pity that <em>Icha Icha Tactics </em>wouldn't be published for another three years, Jiraiya had really outdone himself with the sequel, so for now, this book would have to do.</p>
<p>The glee and satisfaction that he got from rereading Icha Icha was practically indescribable. If he had known that reading his favorite book would snuff out all of his negative feelings, Kakashi would have tracked down a copy of this book earlier, even if that meant stealing it off of his counterpart.</p>
<p>What a pity that he had no one to share his joy with.</p>
<p>Unknownst to him, Kakashi sensei was in the next aisle, trying his best to not hyperventilate after hearing the assortment of weird noises that came out of his mouth.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Hi again!</p>
<p>Hope you enjoy the second part of Kakashi's POV. What an interesting feeling to be stuck in another person's body haha.</p>
<p>Anyways, would love to hear your thoughts! Thanks for reading and commenting. Until next time! :)<br/>-MM</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>This again. After having gone through all the trouble to outsmart his students’ attempts to see under his mask - twice - Kakashi was tired. A small part of him hoped that he wouldn’t have to go through this again, but he should have known better. As long as Naruto was around, there was no way that it wouldn’t. It was hardly surprising to learn that he was the mastermind. </p>
<p>As Naruto listed off various possibilities of what he could be hiding under his mask, Kakashi was thoroughly amused. <em> Buck teeth? Big lips? </em>Was that the best that he could come up with? </p>
<p>Before he knew it, Naruto’s gaze fell on him. “Are you in or are you out?” </p>
<p>“Fine.” Kakashi was quite confident that his counterpart wouldn’t need his help; he’d done well evading them last time on his own, but he figured that a little extra help would go a long way. </p>
<p>Like hell were these kids going to see his face. </p>
<p>At Ichiraku Ramen, all Kakashi had to do was sit back and watch the show. When Team Ten came seemingly flying out of nowhere, Kakashi pretended that Shikamaru had elbowed him, forcing him to stand up to avoid the uncomfortable jab digging into his backside. In reality, his elbow barely grazed him. Kakashi just wanted to be doubly sure that Sasuke’s body was blocking his face as he ate, despite the fact that they probably couldn’t see over the chaos anyways. </p>
<p>Naruto and Sakura thought there was some divine force working against them. They just didn’t know it was Kakashi sensei’s doing, how he sent his clone to track down Choji to inform him that there was an eating contest at Ichiraku today. </p>
<p>It worked splendidly. </p>
<p>Stalking Kakashi sensei wasn’t Naruto’s most brilliant plan, but Kakashi went along with it anyway after seeing that Sakura had relented in her objection. The three of them took turns following him. Naruto and Sakura came back with stories of how Kakashi sensei managed to dupe them, while Kakashi couldn’t be bothered to follow his counterpart. During those hours, he ran off to do his own thing and came back when it was time, acting like he stalked Kakashi sensei when he really didn’t. For a good measure, Kakashi even tacked on an exasperated sigh and scowl of annoyance when he informed them of the “bad news.” </p>
<p>Then when Naruto proposed that all three of them should follow Kakashi sensei, Kakashi felt a mixture of pride and irritation. Irritated because that meant he actually had to go along with their stalking schemes. Proud because he was finally thinking like a team leader. </p>
<p>Even if it was for something as obnoxious as this. </p>
<p>Utterly boring was the only word that Kakashi would use to describe their stalking session. </p>
<p>“You know Kakashi sensei is just walking around in circles, right?” Kakashi deadpanned. It was their third hour at it and Kakashi couldn’t help but think that this experience was even worse than taking a Rescue Tora the cat mission. </p>
<p>At least he got paid for that. </p>
<p>“Hush!” Naruto chided, craning his neck to peer over the chimney. Sakura yanked him down by the bottom of his jacket just as Kakashi sensei turned his head to look in their direction. And then promptly disappeared before Naruto decided the coast was safe enough to sneak another peek. </p>
<p>“Ahhh!” Naruto screamed, flailing his arms around like a headless chicken. He jabbed his thumb at him. “It’s all your fault, Sasuke! If you didn’t talk, then he would have never noticed us here.” </p>
<p>That was ironic, considering the fact Naruto had the least amount of stealth out of the three of them. </p>
<p>Kakashi scoffed. “Like he wasn’t already onto us the moment we started following him. Didn’t you realize we’ve been around this block three times already?” </p>
<p>“Sasuke kun has a point, Naruto,” Sakura interjected, placating their agitated teammate. “We really have been going in circles. I’m pretty sure Kakashi sensei is just playing with us.” </p>
<p><em> Of course he was, </em> Kakashi thought to himself. <em> Confused genins made the best kind of students.  </em></p>
<p>“Argh! Then what do we do now?”</p>
<p>“Give up?” Sakura suggested. “There’s no way we can outsmart him at our current level.” </p>
<p>“No way! We’re not quitters!” </p>
<p>Under normal circumstances, Kakashi would have applauded him for his resolve, but at this point, all he really wanted to do was go home. He hadn’t anticipated wasting his day off on something so inconsequential, like a quest to unmask him. </p>
<p>Maybe he couldn’t understand; he knew what he looked like after all. </p>
<p>Now, Kakashi needed to do something to make Naruto give up for good. “Kakashi sensei is two blocks away from us.” </p>
<p>Naruto’s head snapped to look at him. “What? How do you know?” </p>
<p>“I can feel his chakra signature,” Kakashi responded nonchalantly. Sasuke’s body wasn’t made for any sensory type stuff, but Kakashi knew his own chakra signature well enough to be able to pinpoint it quite easily. “So are we going or what?” </p>
<p>Like he hoped, Naruto immediately took the bait. They found Kakashi sensei again, settling on the rooftop on the building to his left. Kakashi noted his counterpart shifting slightly, knowing that he was aware of their presence. Again. However, before Kakashi sensei could make his escape, a loud, energetic voice put a halt to his plans. </p>
<p>“Ah my eternal rival!” <em> Gai. </em>Kakashi was so used to dealing with Gai’s antics that he was the one who opened his mouth, ready to respond to his greeting, only to realize that he was supposed to be Sasuke at the moment. He clamped his mouth shut. </p>
<p>“Ah Gai. Did you need something?” This came from Kakashi sensei. </p>
<p>“Are you up for a youthful spar today?” If Kakashi could, he would have agreed to it in a heartbeat. Although he would never verbally admit it, Kakashi missed sparring with him. However, his counterpart declined, citing his groceries as an excuse and that was when Kakashi knew that he needed to do something otherwise they were going to be stuck going around in circles again. </p>
<p>Eyeing the patch of dirt between Kakashi sensei and Gai, Kakashi gritted his teeth before he closed his eyes, released the chakra from his feet, and allowed himself to topple off of the rooftops. He landed smack in between the two jonins, one that showered him with concern while the other looking highly amused. </p>
<p>Kami, his counterpart better be grateful for this. At least this was Sasuke’s body; if it had been his real body, Kakashi would never be able to live it down. </p>
<p>Everyone failed to notice his victorious smirk when Naruto yelled when he noticed that Kakashi sensei was gone. Again. </p>
<p>Served him right for stalking him in the first place.</p>
<p>If Kakashi thought the mission to look under his mask would blow over after that, he was sorely mistaken. When their next mission, one that took place outside of the village, came around, Naruto brought up the subject again. This time, he was armed with a multitude of plans, most of which Kakashi thought were quite useless. </p>
<p>Actually, all of the plans were useless, like anything of that caliber would ever work on him, but he had to admit a select few had a hint of ingenuity. Like stealing his Icha Icha book and holding it hostage until Kakashi sensei showed them his face. </p>
<p>Ha. As if he didn’t have multiple copies at home. </p>
<p>Dinner rolled around and Kakashi instantly knew that Naruto would try something here. Kakashi sensei knew it too, judging from the way the corner of his eye crinkled in amusement as Naruto and Sakura sat down on the opposite side of the table, so all three genins sat shoulder against shoulder. </p>
<p>“Oh? No one wants to sit next to me?” </p>
<p>“We’re fine, Kakashi sensei!” Sakura stammered out, at an octave higher than her normal volume. “There’s plenty of space on this side and we wanted to make sure that you were comfortable.” </p>
<p>There clearly wasn’t, but Kakashi refrained from saying anything. This time, he’d sit back and watch everything unfold. While the rest of the team talked, Kakashi snuck plates of food from the table, knowing that Naruto was going to do something stupid - he had forgotten what - that would result in Kakashi sensei flipping over the entire table. </p>
<p>Kakashi had successfully slipped one plate under the table, managing to do so without catching Kakashi sensei’s attention. At this point, Naruto stood up to grab the teapot from the other side of the table, making a huge show of pouring everyone tea. </p>
<p>His eyes widened marginally. Oh, it was the teapot.</p>
<p>“My hand slipped!” Naruto exclaimed, sounding completely unconvincing. Kakashi almost wanted to facepalm; why couldn’t he have come up with something better? Not that it mattered because it was painfully obvious that Naruto had purposely thrown it in Kakashi sensei’s direction. </p>
<p>Kakashi managed to snatch one more plate from the table right before the entire table was upended, sending the plates of food from sliding down the table and forming an undignified heap. </p>
<p>Witnessing this even happen for the second time made it seem even more ridiculous than the first time around. Who threw teapots at other people’s faces? Kakashi shook his head, angling his head away from his students to hide his smile. </p>
<p>Only Naruto would. </p>
<p>By the end of the mission, Naruto had officially run out of ideas. The hot springs tactic Kakashi didn’t even bother with; did Naruto really think he would just show his face that easily? As for dressing up using disguises, Kakashi was hardly surprised that Naruto suggested the idea of stalking Kakashi sensei again. Kakashi allowed himself to be wrangled into his scheme, mainly because he was the only one who seemed to be aware that they were still on a mission. Just in case something happened and Kakashi sensei couldn’t get to the bandits in time, at least he would be here. </p>
<p>Only if he knew that he would have been mistaken as the enemy and consequently tied up, Kakashi would have never agreed at all. </p>
<p>And finally at the end of the mission, the scheme was finally up. Naruto asked Kakashi sensei directly to his face what he really wanted to know. Kakashi sensei smiled. Naruto and Sakura leaned closer. Kakashi kept up his nonchalant attitude. </p>
<p>“Behind this mask…” Kakashi sensei told them ominously. “Is another mask! Pretty cool, huh.” </p>
<p>Naruto and Sakura toppled over from the shock while Kakashi sensei chuckled at their expense. The corner of his lips twitched as Kakashi fought against the smile that threatened to appear as he side eyed his gullible students. </p>
<p>Damn, he never realized how fucking dramatic he was. </p>
<p>And Kakashi loved himself for it.</p>
<hr/>
<p>When Kakashi sensei handed them the applications for the Chunin Exams, his first thought was that he wasn’t going to participate. It was too much effort for a rank that he didn’t need nor care to help Sasuke achieve and well, he knew none of his students would pass on the first try anyways. And who really cared about being a chunin? </p>
<p>Despite still holding a genin status, Naruto eventually became one of the strongest shinobis to ever exist. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, twelve year old Naruto was as excited as he had been the first time and the thought that he was the cause of depriving him of this opportunity made Kakashi feel slightly guilty. However the guilt quickly faded as another thought surfaced. </p>
<p>The Chunin Exams was where Orochimaru made his appearance to give Sasuke the Cursed Mark. If Kakashi opted to skip the exams, then there was no way of knowing if Orochimaru would still come after him. And if he did, Kakashi would be at a disadvantage because he wouldn’t be aware of when or where. </p>
<p>With that in mind, his decision was made. Now all he needed to do was convince Sakura, who he knew wavered the first time. Not that it would be extremely difficult because despite his oddities, Kakashi knew that Sakura was still very much infatuated with Sasuke Uchiha. </p>
<p>During the hour long written examination portion, Kakashi filled out the answers on the testing sheet and promptly fell asleep. A pencil wacked him in the head, waking him up from his slumber. His eyes met the proctor’s for a brief second before Kakashi laid back down. The next object to hit him was a blackboard eraser, this time from Ibiki. Shooting a glare in his direction, Kakashi picked himself up from the table. </p>
<p>Fine, if they wouldn’t allow him to sleep, then he would do something else to entertain himself. Flipping over the exam sheet, Kakashi began writing his favorite passage from Icha Icha. One of the proctors was bound to peruse over his scribbling out of curiosity and Kakashi could already imagine the horrified look on their faces. </p>
<p>Served them right for not leaving him alone. </p>
<p>Standing in front of the gates to the Forest of Death made Kakashi so reminiscent of when he took his own Chunin Exams. Theirs had been more straightforward, a team versus team match, so this version brought a degree of challenge with it. Of course, Kakashi was going to make sure that they didn’t finish the exam before he could face off with Orochimaru. </p>
<p>If Orochimaru didn’t show up, then Kakashi would have no choice to seek him out. </p>
<p>Two hours into the exams, Orochimaru made his appearance. Kakashi hadn’t expected him to appear so quickly, but he relished it. The sooner he came, the sooner they could get out of the damned forest. </p>
<p>Orochimaru’s snake summon took Naruto away. Forming a lightning clone, which sapped away more chakra than he expected, he let his clone bound away to chase after Naruto. As much as he wanted to personally help his student, there was no way a clone could stand a chance against Orochimaru’s real body. </p>
<p>Once Kakashi landed deftly in the clearing, he found his body frozen as Orochimaru began to leak killing intent into the area. The killing intent was combined with a genjutsu, meant to amplify their fears. A tactic that would certainly scare all genins into submission and maybe even some chunins, but unfortunately for him, Kakashi had never been a regular genin anyways. </p>
<p>He broke free of the hold, but pretended that he didn’t. Taking advantage of his current state, he surveyed his surroundings, making a mental catalogue of where all the trees and branches were located, as well as any shrubbery that he could use to his advantage. On his right, Sakura was completely frozen, body trembling as she attempted to move but failed. </p>
<p>When Orochimaru taunted them for being weak genin instead of attacking, Kakashi took the liberty of making the first move. Flashing across the clearing, his fingers blurred through the sequence for a fireball jutsu. He was too fast or he had caught Orochimaru off guard because he didn’t even have the chance to move right as Kakashi spit the fireball in his face. A horrendous screech pierced the air as Orochimaru clawed at his face, pulling away the remnants of his fake identity. </p>
<p>It was the perfect time for Kakashi to follow up with another attack, but he was consciously aware that Sakura was still in the open, with no way of defending herself. Heading back towards her side, he broke her free of the genjutsu and tugged her quite a ways from the initial battlefield. Spitting instructions for Sakura to keep a lookout for Naruto and not interfere with his battle, Kakashi turned to face Orochimaru again.</p>
<p>The last of his melting face was peeled away, revealing his original face. </p>
<p>“Ku ku ku. How interesting. You were just pretending to be frozen in fear. As expected from the Uchiha prodigy.” </p>
<p>“Hmph. I was waiting for you, Oro-chi-maru.” Last time Kakashi faced off with Orochimaru, he carried a false sense of bravery that he couldn’t back up. However this time, Kakashi did. </p>
<p>Could Sasuke’s twelve year old body defeat a legendary Sannin even with the mind and experience of a hardened jonin? No, but that didn’t matter. His greatest weapon was his knowledge and Kakashi looked forward to seeing how Orochimaru reacted to all of this. And maybe he would have some fun in the process, as a form of revenge for causing his former student so much grief. </p>
<p>“Do you want to know what I know?” </p>
<p>Like he predicted, Orochimaru took the bait. To start off with, Kakashi started listing off the various locations of his research bases, in an agonizingly slow manner. The first few locations didn’t mean much to Orochimaru; however, the more he spoke, the more Orochimaru began to connect the dots. When Kakashi finally mentioned the Hidden Sound Village and the threat of revealing his hideout locations to all of the major nations, he could have sworn he saw fear flash in Orochimaru’s eyes for a brief second. </p>
<p>Killing intent flooded the area. “How do you know all of this?”</p>
<p>Kakashi couldn’t resist challenging him. “Wouldn’t you like to know?” </p>
<p>Orochimaru lunged at both of them. Spinning on his heels, Kakashi angled his body to avoid the bundle of snakes that shot out from Orochimaru’s sleeve. Having missed him entirely, Orochimaru elongated his arm, using his snakes to head after Sakura. Kakashi could only afford a quick glance at Sakura, confirming that she was still alive, before Orochimaru fired another bundle of snakes in his direction with his other arm. </p>
<p>A simple fireball jutsu sent all of them up into flames, reducing them to nothing more than charred crisps. Pulling a sword out of his mouth, Orochimaru swung it at Kakashi, sweeping an arc at his feet. The move forced him to jump and Orochimaru took advantage of his limited movement in mid-air to shoot out his tongue, wrapped in a genjutsu. Fishing out some ninja wire and a kunai, Kakashi pulled himself out of the trajectory of his tongue, while breaking the genjutsu. Reality was restored in a nick of time, just for him to swing himself around the tree using the trunk as a shield for the mini fireballs that came at him that had been previously disguised as wind. </p>
<p>Running along the length of the trunk, Kakashi fired kunai at Orochimaru. Each hit its mark with a loud thunk; Orochimaru thoroughly amused thinking that this was the best that he could do. Too bad Kakashi never intended to take the fight seriously. </p>
<p>“I know all about your experiments!” Kakashi called down from his position in the treetops. “You’ve been experimenting with Hashirama cells to create another Wood Style user. You’re also trying to replicate the Second Hokage’s reanimation jutsu, which is working but the reanimated beings are still weak.” </p>
<p>Orochimaru prevented him from continuing as he sent another stream of snakes at him. Instead of avoiding them this time, Kakashi took them head on, attaching himself to the underside of their torso just beneath their head. Latching on, he started to sprint along the length of the snakes, dicing them into pieces as he went. </p>
<p>“You don’t want to admit it, but you’re getting old.” A powerful wind jutsu knocked Kakashi off of his feet, sending him sailing through the air. Orochimaru moved at lightning speed, teleporting to right where he was and rammed the Kusanagi through his backside. </p>
<p>Kakashi disappeared into a puff of smoke. His real body came out of hiding, out from behind the trees. Sensing his presence immediately, Orochimaru whirled around, Kusanagi ready to finish him off, but Kakashi blocked its descent with a kunai. </p>
<p>“You need a new body in order to achieve immortality.” Kakashi paused, for dramatic effect. “But you’re not getting mine.” </p>
<p>And then he released his hold on the kunai, ducking as the sharp edge of the sword sliced off a few strands of his hair. Chidori activated in his hand, Kakashi charged at Orochimaru, aiming for his chest. Orochimaru sidestepped, avoiding a full on blow, but scored himself a particularly nasty gash on his side. </p>
<p>The momentum propelled Kakashi forward, stumbling out of Orochimaru’s reach, but as Kakashi attempted to regain his balance, Orochimaru’s head detached from his body. Neck elongated, mouth wide open baring his sharp teeth, his head flew towards him. </p>
<p>Was this the part where Sasuke got his Cursed Mark? </p>
<p>Kakashi cursed when he realized that Orochimaru was moving too fast for him to dodge. Having no other choice, he released the chakra from his feet, allowing himself to plummet towards the ground. </p>
<p>Orochimaru’s head changed its trajectory too upon realizing that he was falling, but Kakashi was already working his way through another jutsu, a jutsu that he copied from adult Sasuke. A stream of lightning emerged from his hand and he maneuvered it into a wide arc, cleanly slicing off his head. </p>
<p>Even as dull, aching pain shot up his backside from the awkward landing, Kakashi had never been more satisfied in his life as he watched Orochimaru’s severed head bounce harmless against the grass. </p>
<p>The best part? Watching it go up into flames.</p>
<hr/>
<p>They didn’t even have to seek out their victims; their victims came to them. The Sound symbol was plastered proudly on their hitai-ate, seemingly shining mockingly at them. Among the three of them, Naruto was the only one who didn’t seem to make the connection between them and Orochimaru. Nonetheless, he was so eager to fight that Naruto charged straight into battle. </p>
<p>Rolling his eyes at Naruto’s recklessness, Kakashi and Sakura had no choice but to follow. Luckily, the person he wanted to see had been among this squad. </p>
<p>Kabuto moved to attack Naruto, but Kakashi intercepted him. Having fought him in his previous life, Kakashi was well versed in all of his attacks and as a result, he managed to counter all of his movements with relative ease. Without any dead bodies in the vicinity, the jutsu that caught Kakashi off guard last time couldn't be performed. </p>
<p>And the main source of his strength during the Fourth Great Ninja War came after absorbing Orochimaru, so Kakashi was hardly worried. Kakashi quickly learned that beyond his reanimation jutsus, Kabuto was strictly an offensive medic. In a taunting manner, Kakashi danced just right out of his range, inciting Kabuto’s frustration. </p>
<p>“You might want to check up on your master.” </p>
<p>Kabuto froze, giving Kakashi the opening he needed to clock him on his left cheek. The force sent his glasses flying across the clearing. With the back of his hand, Kabuto wiped the blood that began to dribble down his chin. </p>
<p>“What are you talking about?” </p>
<p>“Playing dumb, Kabuto? That’s not like you.” </p>
<p>Kabuto’s eyes fell on the base of his neck, squinting to get a better look at his unmarred skin. “And what would you know about me?” </p>
<p>“Everything. For example, you’re Orochimaru’s lackey. You’re here to aid in his mission to obtain my body, but clearly that failed. What are you waiting for? Shouldn’t you get going?” </p>
<p>Checking up on his students out of the corner of his eye, Kakashi noted that Naruto had finished his fight and moved to assist Sakura. It looked like it wouldn’t be long until they finished either, so it was time to get moving. </p>
<p>“And so what-”</p>
<p>Kakashi didn’t hear the rest of the sentence. In a blur of a movement, he flash stepped to Kabuto’s side, spinning out of the way to avoid his chakra charged hand before he yanked off his weapons pouch. He didn’t slow until he placed considerable distance between them, holding up Kabuto’s pouch in the air in a victorious manner. </p>
<p>His hand snuck into the pouch, rummaging past the weapons until his fingers wrapped itself around the scroll. A heaven scroll. Just the scroll they needed. </p>
<p>“Better hurry. Your master is not in a good shape right now.” </p>
<p>Kabuto hissed. “What did you do to him?” </p>
<p>Kakashi shrugged. “Why don’t you go and find out?” </p>
<p>They were interlocked in a staredown. It was clear that Kabuto was trying to figure out if he was bluffing or not, but with the way Kakashi kept innocently smiling at him, he was certain that Kabuto wasn’t able to get a good read on him. His grin grew wider and wider as Kabuto scrunched up his face. </p>
<p>“You’ll regret this.” </p>
<p>No, he certainly won’t. </p>
<p>Right as Naruto delivered the finishing blow to his other teammate, Kabuto turned tail and ran. Kakashi watched him go, snickering to himself as he detected Kabuto’s fluctuating chakra levels. He was panicking. </p>
<p>“Oi why did you let him get away?” Naruto demanded. “What about the scroll?” </p>
<p>Kakashi rolled his eyes, chucking the scroll at Naruto. Instead of catching it, the scroll bounced harmlessly against his forehead and into his hands. </p>
<p>“Satisfied?”</p>
<hr/>
<p>Kakashi had already made up his mind that he was going to throw his preliminary match because he couldn’t be bothered to pass the exams for his ungrateful student. If Sasuke wanted the rank, then he’d have to work for it himself. The encounter with Orochimaru was his main goal for participating, Kabuto was an added bonus, and now that it was done, Kakashi just wanted to remain unbothered for the next month. </p>
<p>Besides if he advanced to the next round, Kakashi would be forced to “learn” Chidori all over again, just so he didn’t raise any red flags. Not that Kakashi sensei and Sakura weren’t already suspicious of him, but he had to try. Even if just a little. </p>
<p>And because Kakashi was such a nice and caring person, he would actually put up a little bit of a fight to preserve some of Sasuke’s dignity. Only a little bit though because he couldn’t be bothered to put in more effort than that. </p>
<p>However when he saw his name and Rock Lee’s flashing across the billboard, that plan was quickly scrapped. Inconspicuously eyeing Gai, Kakashi bit back a smile. Although Kakashi would never admit it, he did miss Gai randomly appearing and issuing his challenges. Rock Lee was no Gai, and the spar would be a one-sided challenge, but that was fine. </p>
<p>Kakashi would take what he would get. </p>
<p>When Hayate began the match, Kakashi lunged to meet Lee in the center. Raising his forearm, Kakashi easily blocked Lee’s whirlwind kick. Ducking beneath Lee’s arm, Kakashi attempted to land a fistful on Lee’s stomach, but he twisted his body out of his reach.</p>
<p>The boy was quick, but not as quick as Gai. Still, Kakashi purposely slowed down his speed so that he could savor the enjoyment of fighting a taijutsu master just for a while longer. Like teacher, like student, Kakashi found himself constantly blocking hits coming from his left side and if not for having years and years of Gai doing the exact same thing to him, Kakashi was sure he would have been clobbered. </p>
<p>After continuously failing to break through his defenses, Kakashi sensed Lee’s irritation was on the rise. If he was as predictable as his sensei, then undoubtedly, Lee would soon open one or more of his gates. It would be too problematic if Kakashi allowed that to happen. </p>
<p>Backflipping three times to increase the distance between the two of them, he stood in a half crouching position. Right hand raised, Kakashi pushed up his headband, expecting the clarity in his vision to flood in. </p>
<p>It didn’t. </p>
<p>By the time it finally hit him that he actually had to activate his Sharingan to use it, Kakashi had just begun to scramble to turn it on - how did Uchihas remember to do this? - right as Lee streaked across the arena as a blur of green and landed a nice kick on his left cheek. A nice crack sounded in his ears as blackness exploded in his vision. </p>
<p>Right as his back slammed against the wall, Kakashi escaped underground while leaving a clone in his stead. Still momentarily disoriented from the impact, he took a few seconds to breathe. Keeping tabs on everyone’s chakra signature, Kakashi tenderly poked at his throbbing cheek. He hissed. </p>
<p>A nice sized bruise was due on his cheek tomorrow, but Kakashi didn’t have time to ponder over it any further as he felt Hayate approaching the place where he abandoned his clone.</p>
<p>Hayate would end the match if Kakashi didn’t do something. </p>
<p>The sense of urgency pushed him to move. Despite the black dots dancing around in his vision, his fingers flew through the sealing sequence. As he finished, his hand, with a little help of a small lightning jutsu, broke through the arena floor. Wrapping his fingers around Lee’s ankle, Kakashi pulled. </p>
<p>Hearing the yelp was surprisingly more satisfying than he thought. </p>
<p>Sharingan turned on, this time doing it the proper way, Kakashi readied himself for a serious fight. The force from the sudden burst of chakra from opening two gates knocked him off balance for a moment, but Kakashi managed to right his footing just in time to register Lee charging at him. </p>
<p>Exhilarating. That was the only word Kakashi could use to describe the fight. It had been so long since he experienced such an adrenaline inducing fight that he almost didn’t want it to end. However, the longer that he dragged out the fight, the more likely Lee would win. Stamina had always been his weakness. </p>
<p>And like hell was Kakashi going to let any version of Gai, even in the form of his protege, win a challenge purposely. </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Hi again!</p>
<p>2nd to last chapter, so feel free to leave any questions you have and I'll be sure to answer in the next! Kind of sad that this story is ending, but it was supposed to be a one shot...and it ended up way longer than that so I think it had a pretty good run. Interested to hear which moments you thought were the funniest (scenes in previous chapters apply!)</p>
<p>Thanks for reading and until next time!<br/>-MM</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Chapter 8</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Kakashi was a rule breaker, but there were some limits that even he wouldn't cross. After his little stint of breaking into the Hokage's office when he had been fourteen and getting caught by the Third Hokage, Kakashi vowed that he would never do it again. Not that he had to, considering the Third Hokage had given him free reign of the archives. Tsunade had basically wrangled him into being one of her right hand men, so he had access during her tenure too.</p>
<p>And then after that, well he became Hokage and since then, nobody questioned him anymore.</p>
<p>So when Kakashi found himself scaling the side of the Hokage Tower to access the small air conditioner chute, he was feeling quite annoyed. Annoyed that he had to break one of his vows, even if it was self-implemented. Annoyed that he was forcing himself to squeeze through the narrow opening and crawl through the chutes at an agonizingly slow pace. Annoyed that the guards didn't buy into his henge as Kakashi, which landed him into this predicament in the first place.</p>
<p>No matter how much he tried to convince them that he was Kakashi, he was turned away with threats of being thrown out of the building if he didn't leave.</p>
<p>His next thought was the window, but knowing that there were extremely complicated seals lining the window sill made him reconsider that option. Those seals had been intact since Minato became the Fourth Hokage and while Kakashi was confident that he could break them, he didn't know how much time it would take. And knowing his sensei, any fiddling with it would likely trigger an alarm.</p>
<p>Kakashi didn't need to get into trouble with the guards again.</p>
<p>The Anbu's secret entrance had been his next plan, but just thinking about sneaking through Anbu territory and all the way across the Hokage Tower to reach his destination sounded difficult. Even though he had been one of the best during his stint, many could easily detect his foreign presence.</p>
<p>So the air conditioner chute, it was.</p>
<p>Kakashi was not fond of being cramped in such a tiny space, while trying to mask his chakra and not make any noise; however, he didn't have much of a choice. The obscure bookstore didn't provide any useful information. After breaking into the library after it closed and scouring both the jonin and restricted section, there was nothing on time travel. To which, he lamented that he wasted his time and energy arguing with the librarians the other day.</p>
<p>His last resort was the Hokage's Archives, a place that had expanded exponentially under Hiruzen's tenure since he was known for his research. If Kakashi couldn't find it here, then that was it for him. As much as he enjoyed the temporary amusement from trolling others, Kakashi had his own world to head back to.</p>
<p>And there was no way that he was going to be complacent in being stuck in Sasuke's body for the rest of his life and relive puberty all over again.</p>
<p>With those thoughts in mind, it fueled him to keep going.</p>
<p>After ten minutes of crawling through the dusty vents, Kakashi finally reached the archive room. Thankfully during his time in the Anbu, Kakashi had taken care to study the blueprint of the entire building, even down to the most obscure things, so he knew exactly which way to go. If not, the entire ordeal would have certainly taken much longer and there was no guarantee that he wouldn't be lost in those vents.</p>
<p>It would have been a tragic ending for the last Uchiha.</p>
<p>Plucking the screwdriver from his weapons pouch - don't ask Kakashi why he carried one around - he began to unscrew the bolts on the crate. Setting the screws aside, he gently popped up the metal crate, set it down carefully next to him. Lightly brushing the dust off of his hands, Kakashi poked his head down into the room, confirmed that the chakra signatures he felt were actually outside of the room rather than inside, and swung his feet down. A small use of his chakra masked the inevitable thud, not in a large enough dose to alert the guards.</p>
<p>And then he got straight to work. Scouring title after title, Kakashi rummaged through the contents of every single shelf, upheaving some of the items. If he was a bit more careful, he would have chosen to wear gloves to not leave his fingerprints all over the books and scrolls, but if things went according to plan, then he wouldn't have to stay for much longer. Sasuke could be the one to deal with the consequences of his actions.</p>
<p>Consider it as payback for all of Sasuke's messes that Kakashi had to clean up over the years.</p>
<p>But as the sections of unsearched titles dwindled, Kakashi wondered if he had been overly optimistic in his quest. Of course it had conveniently slipped his mind when he first started this adventure that there wasn't such a book on time travel when he had been Hokage, so what made him there would be any seven years in the past?</p>
<p>Despite the sudden realization, Kakashi kept searching, holding onto the small tendril of hope that maybe he missed something when he went through the archives. Only so far his search only turned up titles that he had seen before. There was nothing new.</p>
<p>Out of desperation, Kakashi opened the fuinjutsu scrolls, hoping that he could find something related to what he had accidentally activated. Pages and pages upon the various usage and detailing how fuinjutsu symbols meshed together, there was no mention of time travel. Most importantly, there weren't any seals that were detailed to manipulate time. The closest that came to that was space, but without the time element, time travel wouldn't work.</p>
<p>What if he recreated the seal? If he recreated it and activated it again, would it reverse what it did the first time? Or would it send him back further in time? Or was it meant specifically for this purpose, to send him to Sasuke's body?</p>
<p>For the first time, Kakashi was actually picking apart the details. Why this time period? Why Sasuke's body? Why him?</p>
<p>Or was it not supposed to him? A sinking feeling settled in his chest as the possibility that it wasn't meant for him began to set in. After all, activating the seal was an accident. Was it meant for the cipher team? Kakashi shook his head. It couldn't be; what would their aim be?</p>
<p>Then it dawned on him. <em>Sasuke.</em></p>
<p>The scroll was in a place that only he could find. He would be the first point of contact. For his eyes only. And Kakashi had distinctly remembered seeing a small marking in the upper right corner, one that he recognized to activate upon the trigger. If the trigger wasn't by opening the scroll, then what? What would make sure Sasuke fell into their trap?</p>
<p><em>The Sharingan, </em>was the answer that flitted through his mind. If his theory was correct, then Sasuke would have been swept away the moment the scroll was opened. For everyone else, the seal would trigger since no one else in the world possessed the Sharingan. However, Kakashi just had go and be stupid enough to activate it.</p>
<p>He sighed.</p>
<p>For the record, whatever happened, it was all Sasuke's fault.</p>
<hr/>
<p>"And then?" Kakashi sensei prompted when Kakashi stopped speaking. "You got caught?"</p>
<p>Kakashi shrugged, like it was an everyday occurrence. "Hiruzen sama still has that way of sneaking up on you." Glancing over at Sasuke, he added, "Sorry that you got another misdemeanor on your record, but I figured since you have so many in the future, what's one more?"</p>
<p>Sasuke glared at him. Kakashi laughed. He cleared his throat, steering away from that topic of conversation. "Anyways after that, I tried to recreate the seal from memory. And since I don't have the Sharingan anymore-" At this, Kakashi sensei's eyebrows knitted together, like he couldn't decide whether or not that was a good thing or not. "-I don't remember the exact details. I figured that even if I did manage to copy it exactly, with my fuinjutsu knowledge, I wouldn't be able to create a counter seal to it."</p>
<p>"You were just going to wait around," Sasuke stated, in a very unimpressed tone.</p>
<p>"Maa, don't say it like that. I had a lot of faith that someone would notice that I was missing and look for me." The unimpressed look remained, so Kakashi plowed on. "And besides, I didn't intend to sit around and do nothing. If I couldn't go back to my own time, then the least I can do is make this world a better place."</p>
<p>Sasuke pinched the bridge of his nose. "Don't even remind me about what you've done. You shouldn't have messed with the timeline like that."</p>
<p>The heat from their earlier confrontation about the same issue had long subsided, mostly replaced by annoyance on Sasuke's end. But the damage was already done. And whenever the real Sasuke had control of his body again, it would be up to him whether the events of the timeline fell into place again.</p>
<p>Except maybe...Kakashi glanced at younger counterpart. With the additional knowledge, would he be well equipped to prevent Sasuke from chasing revenge or will he fail again?</p>
<p>Kakashi sensei met his eyes and they shared a nod of understanding. When that little moment was over, Kakashi turned back to Sasuke.</p>
<p>"Oh there was an important question that I wanted to ask you, Sasuke."</p>
<p>"What?" Irritation was etched across Sasuke's features. Just because Sasuke wasn't pleased about the situation didn't mean he should take it out on him, but Kakashi took it in stride. He was too curious about the answer to be bothered by something so trivial.</p>
<p>"So…" Kakashi began, drawing out the word, as his way of building up the suspense. "Was Naruto really your first kiss?"</p>
<p>Sasuke sputtered. Redness tinged his cheeks. Never in his life had Kakashi seen his student look so uncomposed and he wished that he still had his Sharingan to document this moment.</p>
<p>But judging from his reaction, Kakashi had gotten his answer. It was safe to say that he had plenty of blackmail material to use for both of his students when he got back.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Having spent almost a year in this world, Kakashi was itching at the chance to finally go back home, even if he would be greeted by a pile of paperwork. Yet as he readied himself to ask Sasuke how he intended to remove him from young Sasuke's body, another thought flickered through his mind.</p>
<p>Kakashi subtly glanced at his counterpart, who was standing nonchalantly off to the side to give them space. He was giving off an air of being completely unaffected, yet Kakashi knew himself too well to know that wasn't the case.</p>
<p>Turmoil wracked him. Anyone would be, given sparing information about the future yet not quite knowing what to do with it. And Kakashi supposed old habits died hard, but he felt the sudden urge to give him advice, even if it was just to himself.</p>
<p>Who said he wasn't fit to be a sensei?</p>
<p>"Let me talk to him for a moment," Kakashi told Sasuke. Still not completely over the embarrassment of being reminded that Naruto was his first kiss, Sasuke didn't even bother to dignify his request with a response. Kakashi took that as a yes.</p>
<p>Not that Sasuke would really be able to stop him from doing anything that he really wanted to.</p>
<p>Kakashi sensei cocked his head to the side as he saw him approaching. "Oh? Aren't you supposed to be leaving right now?"</p>
<p>Kakashi jerked his head back in the general direction of where Sasuke was, a sly grin stretching across his features. "Maa, you know him. Needs some time to regain his composure."</p>
<p>And because they were the same person, the two of them chuckled at the same time, finding it particularly hilarious in what others probably couldn't find any humor in it. Maybe taking the time to speak with his counterpart wasn't so bad after all. All of his life, he'd been waiting and waiting for someone who was similar to him, who could understand him and Sasuke had been the closest he had gotten.</p>
<p>But in reality, the only person that could really understand him, was himself.</p>
<p>The playful atmosphere dissipated as the grin slid off of his face as Kakashi struggled to find the words to say to him. Even if it was to himself, he still had a hard time expressing his feelings.</p>
<p>Kakashi sensei's eye softened. "You don't have to tell me anything about the future, you know. Regardless of what happens, you know that I'll do my best to protect them with my life. After all-</p>
<p>"Those who abandon their comrades are more than scum," the two of them recited at the same time.</p>
<p>"Yeah. You understand. Of course you do. You're me," Kakashi sensei finished, mirthlessly.</p>
<p>If Kakashi was in his regular body, he most certainly would have reached out to pat him on the shoulder, or on the head for those who were shorter than him. It was his way of showing his support, since the words failed him every time. In Sasuke's body, it was impossible to do either, seeing that he barely reached up to Kakashi sensei's shoulders at the moment.</p>
<p>So he had no choice but to use his words.</p>
<p>"You'll be fine," Kakashi began to say, then stopped short when he realized exactly how ingenuine that sounded. Many had told him something along those lines in the past in regards to his team's death and he merely brushed it off as nothing more than meaningless courtesy. Here he was, delivering the same meaningless rhetoric to himself.</p>
<p>"A lot of things happened, but everything turned out alright in the end." There, a little better but still not the greatest. His only solace was that he was talking to himself so he understood exactly how awkward he was with words.</p>
<p>"That's alright. You don't have to bother." Kakashi sensei was waving him off. A typical go to move for himself because he didn't want to deal with the social interaction, but in reality, those were the conversations that Kakashi really needed to have the most.</p>
<p>Both of them knew it. Kakashi plowed on.</p>
<p>"I know right now that you don't think that you are a good fit to be a sensei even though you've been Team 7's sensei for almost a year now." It was true, even to this day, Kakashi still felt like he didn't teach them anything but the importance of teamwork. Probably the most important lesson, but something clearly went wrong along the way when Team 7 fell in shambles. Only now were they slowly picking up the pieces again.</p>
<p>"I think you'll do better than I did the first time around. Although you were assigned to this team because of your Sharingan, don't just focus on Sasuke. Remember that you have two other students, who will both become brilliant in their own right. Apply the skills that you learned in Anbu about forming a team and use it on them."</p>
<p>Kakashi sensei's eye widened. "That's…"</p>
<p>Kakashi nodded, getting the message without him needing to verbally express it. "Even though you probably don't realize it, Anbu has shaped me to become a better shinobi that I would have been. It has taught me a lot of things outside of the usual stuff that you think about. Patience. Leadership. Strategy. Stealth. Courage."</p>
<p>"I understand," Kakashi sensei stated slowly, mind still processing. Knowing him, he was probably connecting his memories to everything that Kakashi just mentioned. Soon enough, he would find that he was right.</p>
<p>"The ghosts of the past may forever linger in your mind, but learn to cherish the people of today. Look towards the future."</p>
<p>Kakashi sensei gave him an odd look. "You sound...different?"</p>
<p>"Is that so?"</p>
<p>His eyebrows knitted together. Creases along his forehead formed. "You sound...lighter? Freer?"</p>
<p>Lighter? Freer? Kakashi supposed those words were appropriate for describing him now although he never really contemplated that he indeed had changed since then.</p>
<p>"I suppose that I got some closure."</p>
<p>"Closure?" Kakashi sensei echoed, in a tone that suggested the word sounded so foreign coming from his own mouth. "Is that even possible?"</p>
<p>"Have some faith and hang in there. No matter what happens, you've already gotten to this point. You can make it."</p>
<hr/>
<p>When the other him finally asked Sasuke how they were going to get back home, Kakashi couldn't help but think that the madness was finally ending. The truth was quite a lot to process, but at least it answered the numerous questions that had piled up. And Kakashi was finally glad that he was leaving, so that he could have the Sasuke that he expected back.</p>
<p>Not that he wanted to deal with a moody teenager anymore than his counterpart did, but regardless of whether it was intentional or not, this old Kakashi was slowly driving him insane. With him gone, maybe he could restore a semblance of normalcy in his life.</p>
<p>It was ironic that it had been a result of his own antics and it made him wonder if his trolling ways came across as infuriating as he felt. Kakashi would say that he learned his lesson after getting a vicious taste of his own medicine, but that would be a lie.</p>
<p>Quite frankly, nothing would make him give up his schemes.</p>
<p>And if he was being honest with himself, Kakashi was quite proud of who he had become in the future. He had no qualms in admitting that his future self was the better self and hoped to reach that level soon.</p>
<p>"So how will you remove me from that body?" It was Kakashi who asked that question, but Sasuke addressed old Kakashi when he answered.</p>
<p>"I'm going to rip your soul out of the kid's body. Your chakra is attached to his and refuses to let go. I can only forcibly remove it."</p>
<p>Old Kakashi paled at his explanation but nodded anyway. Pushing up his headband, Kakashi used his Sharingan to document Sasuke's hand signs, mostly out of curiosity to explore the jutsu later. And who knew when a jutsu might come in handy?</p>
<p>However as Sasuke continued, Kakashi was quick to realize that it was only a power that he could wield since he possessed the purple eye...the Rinnegan the books called it. Based on the brief information Kakashi could obtain on the dojutsu, it was noted to be extremely rare dojutsu, even rarer than the Mangekyo Sharingan. As far as he knew, the only living beings to have been known to possess those eyes had it in both, so it was quite interesting to note that Sasuke only had it in one eye.</p>
<p>And he wasn't born with it.</p>
<p>His Sharingan picked up the outline of old Kakashi's chakra, as Sasuke extracted it in the form of a steady stream. The chakra piled up into a glob shaped structure, expanding and expanding until Sasuke finished.</p>
<p>Kid Sasuke fell, completely unconscious. Kakashi was quick to flash step over to his side, preventing him from toppling over with his knee supporting his backside.</p>
<p>Sasuke released the ball of chakra, allowing it to disperse into the air.</p>
<p>"What jutsu was that?" Kakashi asked, simply out of his own curiosity because he had never seen anything like that before. He wasn't expecting Sasuke to answer, so he was pleasantly surprised when the brooding nin did.</p>
<p>"With my Rinnegan, I possess the power of the Six Paths. The Human Path allows me to control souls, whether to remove them or insert them."</p>
<p>Kakashi nodded, silently thanking him for explaining it to him. It was certainly something that he would look up later, if there was any more information to be found concerning the Rinnegan other than what he had read.</p>
<p>Any moment now, Kakashi was expecting Sasuke to leave, following his counterpart's lead, but he lingered.</p>
<p>Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "Did you want something? To erase my memories, perhaps?" It wouldn't be a far fetched demand; there was a reason why humans didn't remember their previous life. At the same time, it meant they weren't supposed to know about the future either: the future was called the future for a reason. Although old Kakashi didn't explicitly reveal the future to him, Kakashi was smart enough to put some of the pieces together from their conversation.</p>
<p>Sasuke surprised him again by shaking his head. "Maybe you - your other - has a point." Kakashi blinked, wondering if he was making this up in his mind.</p>
<p>"Do what you will with the information. Thanks for taking care of me," Sasuke rushed out, clearly embarrassed. Before Kakashi could open his mouth to respond that he should be thanking his counterpart and not him, Sasuke had already disappeared into the invisible portal, leaving him alone with his younger self.</p>
<p>Kakashi glanced down at young Sasuke.</p>
<p>
  <em>An avenger, huh.</em>
</p>
<p>Not in this timeline if he had a say in it.</p>
<p>
  <strong>The End.</strong>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Hello, for the last time!</p>
<p>Well this is the end of the story and I hope that you were able to enjoy/laugh reading this story as much I did writing it. :) An ambiguous ending because I intended to write omakes of what happened when Kakashi went back to his world/how Team 7 deals with having the real Sasuke on their team, but I couldn't get around to it in time to add it to the end of this chapter. So I'll mark it as being "complete" and maybe eventually I'll circle back to this story to write out those bonus scenes.</p>
<p>Anyways, thank you so much for taking the time to read and review. I would love it if you do check out my other stories if you are interested! I write mostly Team Minato and have an obsession with time travel tropes apparently haha. Thanks again!<br/>-MM</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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